F. Sánchez, R. Bachelet, P. de Coux, B. Warot-Fonrose, V. Skumryev, L. Tarnawska, P. Zaumseil, T. Schroeder, and J. Fontcuberta
Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 211910 (2011)
Ferrimagnetic spinel CoFe2O4 (CFO) films are integrated with Si(111) using Sc2O3 buffer layers. The huge lattice mismatch (17%) between CFO and Sc2O3 is accommodated by domain matching, and CFO grows epitaxially with (111) out-of-plane orientation and coexistence of A- and B-type in-plane crystal variants. CFO films have low roughness of 4A ° and saturation magnetization of about 300 emu/cm3. These properties make CFO films on Sc2O3-buffered Si(111) comparable to those grown on oxide single crystals and thus extend the possibilities of using spinel oxides in electronic devices.
