Investigation of Magnetic Anisotropy in Cobalt Chromium (CoCr0.5Fe1.5O4) Spinel Ferrite Thin Films

This project is aimed to the fabrication of thin films of chromium-substituted cobalt ferrites (CoCr0.5Fe1.5O4) by electron beam deposition technique. After deposition, the thin films are post annealed at 200, 300, 400, and 500 ℃ for 1 h. The structural properties of thin films are investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy which confirm the inverse cubic spinel structure. It is revealed that the films become more crystalline as annealing temperature is increased. The films showed smooth surface morphology with RMS roughness of <0.1 nm. The magnetic measurements revealed that the easy axis is aligned perpendicular to the film plane, whereas hard axis is aligned parallel to film plane. The magnetization and coercivity increases with annealing temperature which is attributed to the large grain size. Band gap energy and optical constants (refractive index, extinction coefficient, and dielectric function) decreases and increases with temperature indicative of good quality of films.