Structural, Magnetic And Optical Studies Of nickel Ferrite Thin Films

¹Department of Physics, G. B. Pant Univ. of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand 263145, India

²UGC-DAE CSR, DAVV Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore 452017, India

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2012, 3 (1), pp 21-28

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2011.6280

Publication Date (Web): Apr 10, 2012

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail: gagandikshit@yahoo.in

Abstract

In the present work, structural, morphological, magnetic and optical properties of nickel ferrite thin films having different thickness are reported. All the films were deposited on Si (100) substrate by pulsed laser deposition technique. Thicknesses of the films determined by x-ray reflectivity vary from 62 to 176nm as the deposition time varies from 16 min to 40 min. The films were characterised by x-ray diffractogram, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy for structural and phase confirmation. FTIR and Raman spectra confirm mixed spinel nature of nickel ferrite. Surface morphology is studied by Atomic force microscopy. All the films have granular nature. Magnetic properties were studied by vibrating sample magnetometer and magnetic hysteresis curves were recorded for all the films at room temperature and at10K. At 10K, saturation magnetisation was found to increase while coercivity deceases with thickness. The results are explained on the basis of anisotropy induced by cation inversion and strain. Optical properties were studied by UV-vis reflectance spectra. The value of optical band gap (5.7eV) was found to be independent of thickness of the film.

Keywords

Nickel Ferrite, PLD, FTIR, Raman, VSM, UV-vis spectroscopy