Influence of substrate temperature on the texture of barium ferrite film by magnetron sputtering

Barium ferrite thin films have been prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering on a sapphire (0 0 1) substrate at substrate temperature of 500 deg. C and 650 deg. C, respectively. The films were further annealed in air at 1000 deg. C for 5 h. X-ray diffraction shows that the films at the lower substrate temperatures have a good epitaxial relation with respect to the substrate, while the samples under the higher substrate temperatures have (1 0 9) planes parallel to the substrate. The remanence ratio decreases from 0.82 to 0.47 when the substrate temperature is increased. We attribute the variation of the growth direction to the enhanced vertical mobility of the deposited atoms when the substrate temperature is increased.