Effect of substrate temperature on the structural and electrical properties of La and Mn co-doped BiFeO3 thin films

Abstract The effect of substrate temperature on the structural and electrical properties of multiferroic Bi 0.90 La 0.10 Fe 0.95 Mn 0.05 O 3 (BLFMO) thin films deposited on Pt (111)/Ti/SiO 2 /Si substrate using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has been investigated. Films with substrate temperature ranging from 450 °C to 650 °C have been deposited. The grain size and roughness are found to increase with substrate temperature. The film deposited at 575 °C exhibits maximum remnant polarization around 39 μC/cm 2 and a coercive field of 400 kV/cm. The cyclic fatigue study of the sample shows only 4% loss after 10 8  cycles. Complex impedance study of the BLFMO thin films demonstrates electrical homogeneity of the sample. AC conductivity data has been fitted using Jonscher single power law, and value of n found to be − 6  A/cm 2 at 575 °C. The leakage current mechanism is found to be dominated by space charge limited current and Fowler-Nordheim conduction mechanism.