Epitaxial growth of ferromagnetic Co:TiO2 thin films by co-sputtering

Epitaxial anatase Co:TiO2 thin films were grown on LaAlO3 (0 0 1) substrates by co-sputtering method. Structural and compositional properties were measured as a function of deposition parameters to explore the growth mechanism of the anatase films. Epitaxial anatase structure can be obtained at deposition temperatures ranged from 500 deg. C to 750 deg. C. magnetization measurements show that the saturation magnetization (Ms) increases as deposition temperature increases. At 750 deg. C, Ms is about 1.13 μB/Co. X-ray diffraction results show that the sample has a superior anatase crystallinity with the full-width at half-maximum of 0.13 deg. . It was found that Ms is directly related with the crystallinity, i.e., Ms increases as the crystallinity of samples improves