Stoichiometric magnetite grown by infrared nanosecond pulsed laser deposition

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a versatile technique for the fabrication of nanostructures due to the possibilities it offers to control size and shape of nanostructured deposits by varying the laser parameters. Magnetite nanostructures are currently promising materials to be used in computing, electronic devices and spintronic applications. For all these uses the fabrication of uniform nanostructured pure magnetite thin films is highly advantageous. In PLD of magnetite, the laser irradiation wavelength and substrate temperature crucially affect the composition, crystallinity, surface structure and the magnetic properties of the grown samples. This work shows that the use of nanosecond IR laser at 1064 nm enhances the quality of the resulting magnetite thin films, compared to the extensively used UV wavelengths. Deposition at 1064 nm, upon heating the substrate at 750 K, produces thin films constituted by stoichiometric magnetite nanoparticles with sharp edges and sizes ranging from 80 to 150 nm, with a Verwey transition at 119 K and a coercivity of 232 Oe at room temperature, close to those of pure bulk magnetite. Thus, IR-PLD of self-prepared hematite sintered targets constitutes a low-cost procedure of fabrication of pure magnetite nanostructured thin films. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.