Fabrications of cerium-substituted YIG thin films for magnetic field sensor by pulsed-laser deposition

We described the pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) and characterization of cerium doped yttrium iron garnet (Ce:YIG, Ce/sub 0.6/Y/sub 2.4/Fe/sub 5/O/sub 12/) thin films for magnetic field sensor applications. It was found that crystallized Ce:YIG films were obtained by the deposition at 900/spl deg/C substrate temperature and in 10 mtorr argon or oxygen ambient gas. The Faraday rotation angle was very large; 4.2 deg//spl mu/m at 430 nm wavelengths. The charge state control of cerium was important for the crystallinity and high Faraday rotation. The lower temperature or higher ambient gas pressure controlled the cerium charge state Ce/sup 4+/, because the oxygen and cerium released from an ablated target accelerated to form cerium oxide, the thin film was noncrystalline and no Faraday rotation occurred.