Effect of hydrothermal heat treatment on magnetic properties of copper zinc ferrite rf sputtered films

The hydrothermal treatment to the nano-structured films can overcome the destruction of the films. The Cu-Zn Ferrite films were fabricated by RF-sputtering on quartz substrates. Subsequently, the as deposited films were heat treated using hydrothermal process. The X-ray diffraction pattern of the as-deposited and hydrothermal treated films indicate nano-crystalline cubic spinel structure. The amorphous nature of the films is removed after hydrothermal treatment with decreased crystallite size. The field emission scanning electron micrographs showed merged columnar growth for as deposited films, which changes to well define columns after hydrothermal heating. The homogeneous cluster distribution is observed in surface view of the hydrothermal treated films. Hydrothermal treated films show merging of in-plane and out of plane magnetization plots (M(H)) whereas the M(H) plots of as deposited films show angular dependence. The strong angular dependence is observed in the FMR spectra due to the presence of a uniaxial anisotropy in the films. The ferromagnetic interactions decrease in hydrothermal heated films due to the reduced shape anisotropy and crystallite size.