Method of engineering single phase magnetoelectric hexaferrite films

A method of making a magnetoelectric ferrite thin film in which a portion of the iron ions in the ferrite are substituted by ions of at least one of titanium and cobalt, the substituting ions occupying both tetrahedral and octahedral sites in the unit cell of the ferrite crystal, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a substrate and a plurality of targets, wherein a first target is SrFe(4−δ)Ti0.5δCo0.5δO7, which is used to form an R block in the unit cell, wherein δ is 0.2;
• (b) placing each target, one at a time, in sufficient proximity to the substrate to allow ion depositing;
• (c) ablating the target thus situated using laser pulses, thereby causing ions from the target to deposit on the substrate;
• (d) repeating steps (b) and (c), thereby generating a film;
• and
• (e) annealing the film in the presence of oxygen;
• wherein the plurality of targets, the sequence of their ablation, and the number of laser pulses that each target is subjected to, are selected so as to allow the substituting ions to occupy both tetrahedral and octahedral sites in the unit cell, whereby the ferrite thin film is produced.