Growth and characterisation of Ba2FeMoO6 thin films by pulsed laser deposition

Crystalline thin films of the double perovskite Ba2FeMoO6 have been successfully grown on sapphire, silicon and SrTiO3 substrates by developing an ablation target process that is optimum for the pulsed laser deposition method used here. The developed process of grinding, pressing and sintering powder precursors led to single phase cubic Ba2FeMoO6 targets with low anti-site disorder. Films were examined with SEM to establish conditions for smoothness and an acceptably low density of particulates ejected from the target during growth. The epitaxial crystal nature of films grown on SrTiO3 substrates at 700 °C to 750 °C have been verified by reflection high energy electron diffraction and x-ray diffraction.