The coexistence of electrostrictive and magnetostrictive properties in a polycrystalline ZnO film

A polycrystalline ZnO film is fabricated on a cantilevered substrate of silicon by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique and investigated the electrostrictive and magnetostrictive (in-plane and out-of-plane) properties by an indigenously developed optical cantilever beam magnetometer (CBM) setup. The film shows excellent electrostrictive as well as magnetostrictive response at room temperature (300 K) with high values of piezoelectric strain coefficient ( | d | = 69.69 p.m./V), piezoelectric stress coefficient ( | e | = 7.75 C/m ²), saturation magnetostriction ( λ s = 1286.15 ppm & 647.99 ppm), and strain sensitivity (dλ/dH = 12.63 × 10 ⁻⁹ A ⁻¹m & 8.29 × 10 ⁻⁹ A ⁻¹m) in in-plane and out-of-plane configuration, respectively. The emergence of significant electrostrictive and magnetostrictive responses makes the ZnO film well suited for use as a ferroelectric (FE) or as a ferromagnetic (FM) material in electric field-controlled multiferroic magnetoelectric composites (i.e., FM/FE heterostructure) applicable for the development of novel spintronic devices.