An in situ resonant photoemission and x-ray absorption study of the BiFeO3 thin film

Abstract Multiferroic bismuth ferrite (BiFeO 3 ) thin films were prepared using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The electronic structure of the film was studied in situ using photoemission spectroscopy (PES) and x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Both the Fe 2 p PES and XAS spectra show that the Fe ions were initially in a+3 valence state. The Fe 2 p and O K edge XAS spectra indicate that the oxygen octahedral crystal ligand field divides the unoccupied Fe 3 d state into t 2g ↓and e g ↓states. Valence band Fe 2 p –3 d resonant photoemission results indicate that hybridization between Fe 3 d and O 2 p plays an important role in the multiferroic properties of BiFeO 3 thin films.