Chemical vapor deposition of Tm3Fe5O12 epitaxial films, investigation of their structure and properties in the terahertz range

In this study, for the search and development of new spintronic materials, thin films of Tm3Fe5O12 iron garnet were obtained by the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on single-crystal Gd3Ga5O12(111) – GGG and Y3Al5O12(111) – YAG substrates. The Tm3Fe5O12 films were investigated using X-ray diffraction, Energy dispersive X-Ray microanalysis, Raman spectroscopy and terahertz (THz) pulsed spectroscopy. The epitaxial nature of films deposited on substrates of both types demonstrated. It was found that the growth of garnet film under the high-temperature vacuum conditions of MOCVD on a GGG substrate is complicated by the evaporation of gallium oxide, which causes the introduction of iron oxide into the surface layer of the substrate, enrichment of the adjacent layer of the film with thulium oxide and the formation of non-stoichiometric garnet with antisite defects. It was concluded that YAG substrates are more promising, since the heteroepitaxy of iron garnets on them does not have such complications