Preparation and characterization of barium hexagonal ferrite thin films on a Pt template

M-type barium hexagonal ferrite films with the crystallographic c axis out of plane were successfully deposited onto a Pt template using a metallo-organic decomposition technique. For the best film, x-ray diffraction patterns revealed strong (00l) reflections and a texture fraction of 0.953, confirming the out of plane c axis orientation. Atomic force microscopy images confirm hexagonal grains in this film with an average lateral size of similar to 500 nm. Hysteresis loops revealed a high effective out of plane anisotropy field, high perpendicular remanent magnetization M-r=0.93 M-s, and out of plane coercivity of 4.5 kOe. Out of plane Ferromagnetic Resonance measurements determined the values of gamma=2.79 GHz/kOe and effective anisotropy field. The full width at half maximum FMR linewidth was 338 Oe at 60 GHz. These properties are suitable for possible use in on-wafer millimeter wave devices. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3343567]