Study of YBaCo4O7 + δ thin films grown by sputtering technique on (1012)-oriented sapphire substrates

We report the growth of thin films of the cobaltite YBaCo4O7 + δ by means of the dc magnetron sputtering technique at high oxygen pressure onto r (1012) sapphire substrates. The films were characterized according to their structural, morphological, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties. An analysis of the X-ray diffraction pattern indicates that the films grown on r-sapphire substrates are single phase polycrystalline. Despite the high growth temperature (850 °C), no indication of interface reaction (formation of BaAlO4 or Y2O3) is detected. Measurements of resistivity as a function of temperature reveal a semiconductor-like character of the grown films. No indication of possible transitions is observed in the temperature range 50-300 K. The electronic transport mechanism seems to be dominated by Mott variable range hopping (VRH) conduction. Fitting the VRH model to the experimental data allows one to estimate the density of states of the material at the Fermi level N(EF). The resistivity measured in magnetic fields as strong as 5 T increases notably, and positive magnetoresistance values as high as ~ 60% at 100 K are obtained. Magnetization measurements show well defined hysteresis loops at 300 K and 5 K. Nevertheless, calculated values of the magnetization have ended up being too small for the ferro- or ferrimagnetic states. Raman spectra, in turn, allow one to identify bands associated with vibrating modes of CoO4 and YO6 in tetrahedral and octahedral configurations, respectively. Additional bands which seem to stem from Co ions in octahedral configuration are also clearly identified. Measurements of transmittance and reflectance show two well defined energy gaps at 3.7 and 2.2 eV.