Influence of annealing temperature on surface morphology and magnetic properties of Ni0.7Zn0.3Fe2O4 ferrite thin films

Nickel–zinc (Ni–Zn) ferrite Ni0.7Zn0.3Fe2O4 thin films were fabricated on Si(0 0 1) substrate by a simple chemical method. The microstructure and magnetic properties were systematically investigated. X-ray diffraction results show that all samples have a single-phase spinel structure with the space group of Fd3¯m. The results of field-emission scanning electronic microscopy show that the mean grain size increases from 10 to 32 nm with increasing the annealing temperature from 500 to 900 °C. The magnetic properties of Ni0.7Zn0.3Fe2O4 ferrite thin films exhibit a strong dependence on the annealing temperature. The coercivity increases from 25 to 80 Oe and the saturation magnetization increases from 146 to 283 emu/cm3 with increasing the annealing temperature, which is in favor of modern electronic device miniaturization.