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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
Thin film nanogranular composites of cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) dispersed in a barium titanate (BaTiO3) matrix were deposited by laser ablation with different cobalt ferrite concentrations (x). The films were polycrystalline and composed by a mixture of tetragonal-BaTiO3 and CoFe2O4 with the cubic spinnel structure. A slight (111) barium titanate phase orientation and (311) CoFe2O4 phase orientation was observed. As the concentration of the cobalt ferrite increased, the grain size of the BaTiO3 phase decreased, from 91nm to 30nm, up to 50% CoFe2O4 concentration, beyond which the BaTiO3 grain size take values in the range 30-35nm. On the other hand the cobalt ferrite grain size did not show a clear trend with increasing cobalt ferrite concentration, fluctuating in the range 25nm to 30nm. The lattice parameter of the CoFe2O4 phase increased with increasing x. However, it was always smaller than the bulk value indicating that, in the films, the cobalt ferrite was under compressive stress that was progressively relaxed with increasing CoFe2O4 concentration. The magnetic measurements showed a decrease of coercive field with increasing x, which was attributed to the relaxation of the stress in the films and to the increase of particle agglomeration in bigger polycrystalline clusters with increasing cobalt ferrite concentration.