Interplay of shape and magnetocrystalline anisotropy in electrodeposited Fe3O4 films

Fe3O4 thin films have been grown on ITO glass substrates using an electrodeposition technique. The properties of the films can be tuned by changing the electric potential within −1.00 V to −1.22 V. Preferred crystalline orientation along 〈511〉 arises in the samples prepared with the potentials of −1.06 V to −1.08 V. An apparent decrease of the in-plane coercivity is found in these films with preferred orientation. A simple model considering the interplay of shape anisotropy and magnetocrystalline anisotropy, which leads to a weaker effective plane anisotropy in the oriented films, is given to explain the decrease of coercivity.