Effects of Ambient Pressure on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of Bismuth Ferrite Nanoparticles Prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD)

Nanoparticles of bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) were fabricated by high-pressure pulsed laser deposition method (PLD) on Pt-coated Si substrates. Effects of the ambient oxygen pressure during deposition (from 1 Torr to 15 Torr) were studied with respect to the microstructures and magnetic properties of the samples. It was found that as the pressure is higher than 5 Torr isolated nanoparticles are formed and the size of these nanoparticles decreases with the deposition pressure. All the nanoparticles exhibit ferromagnetic behavior and the magnetic coercive filed decreases with the particle size.