Effect of deposition time on structural and magnetic properties of pulse laser deposited hard-soft composite films

Hard-soft composite (BaFe12O19:Mg0.1Ni0.3Zn0.6Fe2O4 (2:1) films, were deposited by 'Pulsed Laser Deposition' (PLD) technique on Si (100) substrate using different deposition time - 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes. Influence of deposition time on structural and magnetic properties were studied via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). XRD confirms the presence of soft and hard phases in all the prepared thin films. Small amount of secondary phase - Fe2O3 is also detected in all the thin films except for the deposition time - 90 mins. With deposition time average grain diameter of both hard (BaFe12O19) and soft (Mg0.1Ni0.3Zn0.6Fe2O4) phase increases. Increase in the distance between the magnetic ions (Ni2+ and Fe3+) at tetrahedral (A) and octahedral [B] site leads to increase in the hopping length at A and B site except for the the deposition time of 60 minutes. Magnetic measurements shows that the coercivity and magnetization of the prepared thin films respectively ranges between 112.07 - 213.03 Oe and 1.4 x 10-7 - 3.15 x 10-7 Am2.