Multiferroic YCrO3 thin films: Structural, ferroelectric and magnetic properties

Highlights: • Highly oriented YCrO₃/SrTiO₃ films grown by magnetron sputtering are reported. • A structural, ferroelectric and magnetic study of YCrO₃/SrTiO₃ films is shown. • These results will encourage further studies on origin of ferroelectricity in YCrO₃. Highly oriented and locally epitaxial multiferroic YCrO₃ (001) thin films, 20 nm thick, were deposited by r.f. magnetron sputtering on SrTiO₃ (110) substrates at 890 °C. The structure was investigated by x-ray diffraction and cross section high resolution transmition electron microscopy, a clear local matching between the YCrO₃ film and the substrate was observed. Ferroelectricity was confirmed by means of switching areas with opposite polarization directions, first and second harmonic electromechanical signals, and local hysteresis ferroelectric curves obtained by piezoresponse force microscopy. Additionally, below the Néel temperature_, a clear ferromagnetic hysteresis loop was observed. These results will encourage further studies on the mechanism that promotes the ferroelectric nature in YCrO₃ compound.