Low temperature growth of manganese cobalt nickelate films by chemical deposition

Abstract Manganese cobalt nickelate films (Mn x Co y Ni 3 −  x  −  y )O 4 (MCN) were prepared by chemical deposition method at a crystallization temperature of 600 °C, which is lower than the usual sintering temperature of ∼ 1050–1200 °C. The grain size of the MCN films increased from 20 to 60 nm with the annealing temperature increased from 600 °C to 900 °C. The secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) shows that elements of Mn, Co, Ni in the films were distributed homogenuously and that the diffusion of Si at the interface was negligeable. The infrared optical constants of the MCN thin films were determined using infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry.