Spinel ferrite thin film and method of manufacturing the same

Abstract

A substrate and a target are disposed within a vacuum chamber, and an oxygen partial pressure within the vacuum chamber is set to 1×10−5 or less. Under this condition, a spinel ferrite thin film selected from the group consisting of compounds represented by the formula AE1+tFe2−2tTMtO4, where AE represents an alkaline earth metal or an alkali metal, TM represents a transition metal and t falls within a range of between 0.2 and 0.6, and compounds represented by the formula Zn1−xCoxFe2O4, where x falls within a range of between 0.2 and 0.7, is deposited on the substrate by laser beam deposition. The particular method makes it possible to provide a spinel ferrite thin film realizing a spin glass state under temperatures around or higher than room temperature and capable of controlling the spin state by light.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.