Charge ordering in reactive sputtered (1 0 0) and (1 1 1) oriented epitaxial Fe3O4 films

Epitaxial Fe3O4 films with (1 0 0) and (1 1 1) orientations fabricated by reactive sputtering present simultaneous magnetic and electrical transitions at 120 and 124 K, respectively. The symmetry decreases from face-centered cubic to monoclinic structure across the Verwey transition. Extra spots with different brightness at different positions appear in selected-area diffraction patterns at 95 K. The extra spots come from the charge ordering of outer-layer electrons of Fe atoms, and should be related to the charge ordering of octahedral B-site Fe atoms.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (105 K)Download as PowerPoint slide