Growth and properties of pulsed laser deposited thin films of Fe3O4 on Si substrates of different orientation

Fe3O4 thin films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition on Si substrates of different orientations: (111), (100) and (110). X-ray diffraction studies revealed the spinel cubic structure of the films with preferential ( 111) orientation independent of the substrate orientation. Raman spectroscopy suggests the single-phase growth of Fe3O4 films on these substrates, with minimum full width at half maxima being observed for the film grown on Si( 111) substrate. These samples exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism, as observed by magnetization hysteresis. The magnetization in these films saturates at a magnetic field value of approximately 0.2 T.