Thickness dependence study of multiferroic PbTi0.5Fe0.5O3 thin films grown on Si substrate by using pulsed laser deposition technique

Phase-pure PbTi0.5Fe0.5O3 (PTFO) films of various thicknesses ranging between ~ 50-400 nm were deposited directly on conducting Si < 100 > substrate by pulsed laser deposition technique (PLD). We investigated the effect of film thickness on structural properties, surface morphology, magnetic and ferroelectric properties. The crystalline structure was studied using X-ray diffraction, surface topography was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy was performed to determine interface. We also performed ferroelectric and magnetic measurements to study the electrical and magnetic properties. The arbitrary change in cell volume with thickness could be correlated with the stress developed during the growth process. Saturation polarization varies nonlinearly and could also be related with stress induced strain. The study leads to important information that could be used as a controlling parameter during multiferroic device fabrication based on PTFO thin films directly deposited on Si substrate.