Enhanced magnetization by doping aluminum in laser ablated copper ferrite thin films

Abstract Highly crystalline oriented CuFe 2− x Al x O 4 (0.0≤ x ≤0.8) thin films with thickness as of about 130 nm were grown on MgO (100) substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The lattice parameters were not affected by the Al 3+ doping into CuFe 2 O 4 thin films. The magnetization of Al-Cu-ferrite films was gradually increased when Al 3+ content increases. The enhancement in magnetization with the higher doping of Al 3+ content might cause the overall better magnetic domain alignment during the magnetization measurements and thus a stronger magnetization is observed as evidenced from the film crystalline quality by the stronger (222) peak in XRD. Additionally, other factors such as defects, strains etc. might also play some role.