We report the fabrication of epitaxial Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 (YIG) thin films on Gd 3 Ga 5 O 12 (111) using a chemical solution method. Cubic YIG is a ferrimagnetic material at room temperature, with excellent magneto-optical properties, high electrical resistivity, and a very narrow ferromagnetic resonance, which makes it particularly suitable for applications in filters and resonators at microwave frequencies. But these properties depend on the precise stoichiometry and distribution of Fe 3+ ions among the octahedral/tetrahedral sites of a complex structure, which hampered the production of high-quality YIG thin films by affordable chemical methods. Here we report the chemical solution synthesis of YIG thin films, with excellent chemical, crystalline, and magnetic homogeneity. The films show a very narrow ferromagnetic resonance (long spin relaxation time), comparable to that obtained from highvacuum physical deposition methods. These results demonstrate that chemical methods can compete to develop nanometer-thick YIG films with the quality required for spintronic devices and other high-frequency applications.
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