Characterization of Erbium Substituted Yttrium Iron Garnet Films Prepared by Sol-Gel Method

Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) thin films substituted erbium ions (Er+3) Er0.4Y2.6Fe5O12 films were prepared by a sol-gel method at different temperatures which varied from 800 to 1000°C for 2 hours in air. Magnetic and microstructural properties of the films were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The XRD patterns of the sample have only peaks of the garnet structure. The lattice constants decrease, while the particle size increases from 51 to 85 nm as the annealing temperature increases with average in thickness of 300 nm. The saturation magnetization and the coercivity of the samples increased from 26 (emu/cc) and 28 Oe for the film annealed at 800°C to 76 (emu/cc) and 45 Oe for film annealed at 1000°C, respectively