Growth of high quality Si-based (Gd2Ce)(Fe4Ga)O12 thin film and prospects as a magnetic recording media

Abstract Ce3+-doped rare-earth iron garnet is a hot magneto-optical material in the field of optical communication and information technology. However, the integration of magneto-optical devices has encountered difficulties due to the poor-quality film deposited on Si. This paper focuses on high-quality Si-based (Gd2Ce)Fe5O12 and (Gd2Ce)(Fe4Ga)O12 thin films by using radio frequency magnetron sputtering method. It was found that the introduction of Ga3+ ions can protect Ce3+ from oxidation, stabilize the garnet phase, improve the optical transmittance, and reduce the lattice mismatch between the thin film and the Si substrate. And heating the substrate at 500 ℃ is conducive to grow high-quality Si-based films. The (Gd2Ce)(Fe4Ga)O12/Si thin film has the strong Kerr magneto-optical effect and the pretty high coercivity. Moreover, this film has the obvious out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy and its vertical matrix ratio close to 1, which indicates that it has the considerable prospects for high-density perpendicular magnetic recording.