The multiferroic epitaxial thin film YFeO3

• The YFeO3 film is successfully prepared by pulsed laser deposition method.
• The polarization is larger than other multiferroic materials with the same structure.
• The work helps in finding a route to achieve more excellent multiferroic materials.

In this paper, the YFeO3 single-phase film is successfully prepared on SrRuO3/SrTiO3 (100) substrate by pulsed laser deposition method. The X-ray analysis indicates that YFeO3 film epitaxially grows along the (010) plane and the element content of the film is Y3+:Fe3+:O2−=1:1:3. The magnetic data shows that the film performs a weak antiferromagnetic property. The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in YFeO3 film causes an additional canting of the antiferromagnetically ordered spins which induce the ferroelectricity. The polarization value at (010) direction is 15.06 μC/cm2, which is larger compared to other materials with the same structure at room temperature. As a result, the work helps in finding a route to achieve more excellent multiferroic materials.