Continuous ferrimagnetic Y3Fe5O12 layers on the ceramic PbZr0.45Ti0.55O3 substrates

Abstract For the first time, continuous layers of yttrium iron garnet (YIG, Y3Fe5O12) with a thickness of about 2 μm were synthesized on ferroelectric ceramic substrates based on lead titanate zirconate (PZT, PbZr0·45Ti0·55O3). The Y3Fe5O12 layer was deposited by ion-beam sputtering – deposition on PZT substrates of 400 μm thick by sputtering a polycrystalline target of the composition Y3Fe5O12 with a mixture of argon and oxygen ions. Due to preliminary planarization of the PZT surface with a TiO2 layer, a high-quality plane-parallel YIG/PZT interface was obtained, which is confirmed by scanning electron microscopy in combination with the focused ion beam technique. Atomic force microscopy showed that planarization makes it possible to achieve surface smoothness of 10 nm. The YIG/PZT heterostructures obtained in this work are potentially attractive for use in logic circuits based on low-scattering spin waves, memory elements, as well as electrically controlled microwave devices.