Phase Purity Control of Nanostructured Bismuth FerriteThin Film Synthesized via Sol–Gel Method with HeatTreatment Parameters

In this work, the preparation of high purity BiFeO۳ (BFO) thin films by a specific wet chemicalroute was investigated. Single-phase BFO thin films were grown on glass substrates via a simplesol-gel spin coating technique at relatively low temperature using bismuth nitrate and iron nitrateas precursors. The effect of heat treatment parameters including temperature, time, and rate ofcalcination on formation of impurity phases was studied. The as-prepared thin films werecharacterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRDpatterns indicated that the BFO thin films were mainly composed of a rhombohedral BFO phasewith a minor impurity phase by increasing temperature and time of annealing as well asdecreasing the rate of calcination. SEM images revealed that the matrix was uniform and nosegregation of impurity phase was detected.

Keywords:

BFO thin film , Sol–gel method , Heat treatment , Phase purity control