Structural, magnetic, and ferroelectric properties of multiferroic BiFeO3 film fabricated by chemical solution deposition

Polycrystalline BiFeO3 film has been fabricated by a chemical solution deposition on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrates. A ferroelectric hysteresis loop showed a high remanent polarization of 47 mu C/cm(2) at room temperature. Leakage current density was on the order of 10(-1) A/cm(2) at 100 kV/cm, indicating the high leakage current density in the present BiFeO3 film. The leakage current mechanism could be considered as follows: Ohmic conduction at low electric field and Poole-Frenkel trap-assisted conduction appeared as the electric field increased, and space-charge-limited current started at a high electric field. Weak ferromagnetism was observed at room temperature, and magnetic coercivity increased to 0.5 kOe with small remanent magnetization of 2 emu/cm(3) at 10 K. In order to investigate the magnetoelectric effect of the BiFeO3 film, the ferroelectric hysteresis loop was measured under the magnetic field of 5 kG at room temperature. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.