Lasers and Thin Films: Pulsed Laser Deposition of thin films

Over the past few years, the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique has emerged as one of the simplest and most versatile methods for the deposition of thin films of a wide variety of materials. The stoichiometric removals of constituent species from the target during the ablation, as well as the relatively small no of control parameters, are two major advantages of PLD over some of the other physical deposition techniques. Magnetic materials encompass a wide variety of materials, which are used in a diverse range of applications. They are used for the storage of data on audio and video tape as well as on computer disks. In the field of medicine, they are used in body scanners. The single crystal like thin films of Barrium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19) were deposited on sapphire (Al2O3) substrate using Pulse Laser Deposition technique. The effect of external magnetic field on the film deposition was investigated. Crystallographic orientation andtexture were determined using X-Ray diffractometer. Diffuse reflectance spectra, absorption edge and band gap energy were determined by spectrometer. Magnetic parameters (coercivity and remanance) were deduced from Vibrating Sample Magnetometer.