Multiferroic properties of a BiCrO3/BiFeO3 double-layered thin film prepared by chemical solution deposition

This study involved an investigation of the structural, electrical, and multiferroic properties of a BiCrO3/BiFeO3 (BCO/BFO) double-layered thin film that was prepared on a Pt(1 1 1)/Ti/SiO2/Si(1 0 0) substrate by using a chemical solution deposition method. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy studies revealed the formation of tetragonal and rhombohedral structures for the BCO/BFO double-layered thin film without any detectable secondary phases. A saturated ferroelectric hysteresis loop with a remnant polarization (2Pr) of 37 μC/cm2 and a coercive field (2Ec) of 1004 kV/cm at an applied electric field of 1154 kV/cm and a ferromagnetic hysteresis loop with a 2Mr value of 0.044 emu/cm2 and a 2Hc value of 276 Oe at a magnetic field of 10 kOe were observed for the BCO/BFO double-layered thin film at room temperature. The leakage current density of the BCO/BFO double-layered thin film was 2.88×10−4 A/cm2 at an external electric field of 100 kV/cm. The enhanced multiferroic properties observed for the BiCrO3/BiFeO3 thin film correlated with its net effects, such as a decrease in the oxygen vacancy density, a stabilization of the perovskite structure, and small changes in the lattice parameter caused by compressive strain resulting from the coupling of the BiFeO3 and BiCrO3 layers.