Room temperature multiferroism in polycrystalline thin films of gallium   ferrite
  Sol-gel deposited (010) textured polycrystalline thin films of gallium ferrite (GaFeO3 or GFO) on n-Si(100) and Pt/Si(111) substrates are characterized for room temperature multiferroism. Structural characterization using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy confirms formation of single phase with nano-sized crystallites. Temperature dependent magnetization study demonstrates ferri to paramagnetic transition at ~300 K. Room temperature piezoresponse force microscopic analysis reveals local 180 degree phase switching of ferroelectric domains at very high coercive field EC, ~ 1350 kV/cm consistent with recent experimental and first-principles studies. Our study opens up possibility of integrating polycrystalline GFO in novel room temperature multiferroic devices. 
Monali Mishra, Amritendu Roy, Ashish Garg, Rajeev Gupta and Somdutta   Mukherjee
cond-mat.mtrl-sci