Spencer, Gregory F.Johnson, Rye A.2013-04-302013-04-302013-05Johnson, R. A. (2013). <i>Growth characterization of RF magnetron sputtered BiFeO3 on epitaxial SrTiO3</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, Texas.https://hdl.handle.net/10877/4566BiFeO3, or BFO, is a multiferroic material that exhibits the simultaneous appearance of ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic properties. What makes this material unique is its ability to display this property at room temperature, making it of great practical interest for device application. We report on our synthesis and growth characterization of thin BFO films by RF magnetron sputtering on epitaxial SrTiO3/Si substrate grown at Texas State University-San Marcos. The resulting polycrystalline thin films, ranging from ~ 100 to 600 nm, were characterized by x-ray diffraction for crystallinity and EDS for film composition. We also measured the temperature dependent magnetic characterization by vibrating sample magnetometer between 4.2K and 300K. Imaging by scanning electron and atomic force microscopy was performed to study spontaneously formed thin film morphology.Text68 pages1 file (.pdf)enBismuth FerriteBiFeO3BFOSrTiO3STORF magnetron sputteringSEMSelf assembled circular surface structuresFerromagnetic materials--ResearchFerroelectricity--ResearchThin filmsNanostructured materialsThesis