Epitaxial stabilization of ε-Fe2O3 (00l) thin films on SrTiO3 (111)

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.Thin films of the metastable and elusive ε-Fe2O3 have been epitaxially stabilized on SrTiO3 (111) substrates. The ε-Fe2O3 films present a (001) orientation perpendicular to the substrate and three in-plane domains measuring a few nanometers and showing atomically sharp interfaces. We argue that this domain structure, rather than the epitaxial-strain, plays an essential role in stabilizing the ε-Fe2O3 by minimizing the energy of (100) surfaces. The ε-Fe2O3 films show a large in-plane coercivity ∼ 8 kOe which combined with the magnetoelectric character claimed for this oxide may lead to novel applications in spintronics