PbFe12O19 thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition on Si/SiO2 substrates

Pulsed laser ablation deposition has been used to grow polycrystalline PbFe12O19 thin films with high coercivity on Si/SiO2 substrates. The influence of the substrate temperature (550-775°C) and the oxygen pressure (1.0-3.0 mbar) on the magnetic properties during the deposition is reported. The crystallisation of PbFe12O19 thin films occurs in the temperature range of 600-750°C, which is somewhat lower than that for the Sr and Ba hexaferrites, which crystallise in the range of 750-850°C. M-type lead hexaferrite films with high saturation magnetisation (280 emu/cm3) and high coercive field (3.8 kOe) were grown using a substrate temperature of 700°C and a pressure of 3.0 mbar of oxygen. These films were observed to be isotropic, with an Mr/Ms ratio of ~0.5.