Magnetic properties of pure and Fe doped HoCrO3 thin films fabricated via a solution route

Multiferroic properties of orthorhombically distorted perovskite rare-earth chromites, such as HoCrO3, are being investigated extensively in recent years. In the present work, we report on the effect of Fe substitution on the magnetic properties of HoCrO3 thin films. Thin films of HoCrO3 and HoCr0.7Fe0.3O3 were fabricated via a solution route on platinized silicon substrates. Structural properties of the films were evaluated by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy techniques. The surface morphology and cross-sections of the films were examined using scanning electron microscopy. Optical band gaps of pure and Fe doped HoCrO3 films are found to be 3.45 eV and 3.39 eV, respectively. The magnetization measurements show that the Néel temperatures (where Cr3+ orders) for the HoCrO3 and HoCr0.7Fe0.3O3 films are 134 and 148 K, respectively. In a magnetic field of 2 T, the maximum entropy change and relative cooling power, two parameters to evaluate the magnetocaloric properties of a material, were 0.813 J/kg K at 11 K and 21.1 J/kg for HoCrO3 film, in comparison with 0.748 J/kg K at 15 K and 26.8 J/kg for HoCr0.7Fe0.3O3 film. To our knowledge, this is the first work exploring the band gap and magnetocaloric properties of rare-earth chromite thin films. These findings should inspire the development of rare-earth chromite thin films for temperature control of nanoscale electronic devices and sensors in the low temperature region (< 30 K).