Effect of Yb-doping on structural and electrical properties of BiFeO₃ thin films

In this paper, the incorporation of ytterbium into the BiFeO₃ thin film was fabricated on the Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates by using both dc and rf magnetron co-sputtering method at room temperature. The impact of ytterbium content on structural properties and electrical characteristics of the BiFeO₃ thin films was investigated. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy techniques were applied to examine the crystal structures, elemental compositions, microstructures, and film morphologies of these thin films, respectively. The Yb-doped BiFeO₃ thin film fabricated at the 11 W condition exhibited the lowest leakage current and the highest remnant polarization among these conditions. This result is attributed to the formation of a stronger BiFeO₃ (202) component leading to the decrease in oxygen vacancies.