Pure and fully texturized Sr2FeMoO6 thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition from target made with citrate-gel method

Sr2FeMoO6 (SFMO) thin films were grown on SrTiO3 and MgO single crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The SFMO target with nanometer sized grains for the film preparation was made from powder prepared by citrate-gel method. The parameters for ablation were optimized and the importance of the substrate temperature is observed. Film quality was verified with various X-ray diffraction methods and magnetometric measurements. The films are pure, without impurities such as metallic iron, Fe2O3, SrMoO3 or SrMoO4 and they are completely c-axis oriented. The Curie temperature for the films is higher than room temperature. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.