A Flux Screening Technique for Growth of High-Quality Ferrite Films by Pulsed Laser Deposition

We present a new technique to improve growth of ferrite films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The technique utilizes a metal screen placed between target and substrate, effectively to impede formation of large particulates on the surface of ferrite films by changing the plume shape and plasma density in the PLD chamber. Structural, magnetic, electrical, and microwave properties were measured for the flux screened and conventionally grown films. We demonstrate that the flux screen deposited MnZn-ferrite film has a lower coercivity (39 versus 58 Oe) and ferromagnetic resonance linewidth (350 versus 430 Oe at 9.58 GHz). The improvement in magnetic properties is associated with a reduction in large particulate contamination. This simple approach has the potential to produce high-quality ferrite films for use in electronic and microwave devices.