Epitaxial growth of spinel cobalt ferrite films on MgAl2O4 substrates by direct liquid injection chemical vapor deposition

•Growth of cobalt ferrite via direct liquid injection chemical vapor deposition.•Narrow growth window for smooth and epitaxial films, with bulk-like properties.•Ordering of Fe3+ and Co2+ on the B-site extracted from Raman studies.•Deposition method allows epitaxial growth on a variety of substrates.

The direct liquid injection chemical vapor deposition (DLI-CVD) technique has been used for the growth of cobalt ferrite (CFO) films on (100)-oriented MgAl2O4 (MAO) substrates. Smooth and highly epitaxial cobalt ferrite thin films, with the epitaxial relationship MAO(100)[001]∥CFO(100)[001]MAO(100)[001]∥CFO(100)[001], are obtained under optimized deposition conditions. The films exhibit bulk-like structural and magnetic properties with an out-of-plane lattice constant of 8.370 Å and a saturation magnetization of 420 kA/m at room temperature. The Raman spectra of films on MgAl2O4 support the fact that the Fe3+- and the Co2+-ions are distributed in an ordered fashion on the B-site of the inverse spinel structure. The DLI-CVD technique has been extended for the growth of smooth and highly oriented cobalt ferrite thin films on a variety of other substrates, including MgO, and piezoelectric lead magnesium niobate–lead titanate and lead zinc niobate–lead titanate substrates.