Microstructure and magnetic properties of a novel spinel (Zn,Co)Fe2O4 thin film on the SrTiO3substrate

A novel spinel (Zn,Co)Fe2O4 film is deposited on (0 0 1) SrTiO3 (STO) substrate by pulsed laser deposition. Microstructure analysis reveals that the film is composed of pillar phase and matrix phase, and both of them have the same chemical composition. The pillar phase has the cube-on-cube orientation relationship with STO substrate, which is consistent with the reported orientation relationship between spinel CoFe2O4 films and STO substrate. However, the matrix phase forms to 90° domains with a unique orientation relationship with STO substrate of spinel(1 1¯ 1)||STO(0 0 1) and spinel[1 1 0]||spinel[1 1̄ 2̄] (90° domains)||STO[1 1 0]. Magnetic property study reveals that the film exhibits relatively larger saturation magnetization and lower coercive field, compared to the reported magnetic properties of the CoFe2O4 films on STO substrate.