Design and characterization of Pb(Zr,Ti)O$_{3}$ /CoFe$_{2}$O$_{4}$ Multilayer epitaxial thin films

Mutiferroics are a novel class of next generation multifunctional materials. Intensive research is being pursued towards the development of materials with high magnetoelectric (ME) coupling. We have fabricated epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O$_{3}$--CoFe$_{2}$O$_{4}$ (PZT-CFO) multilayer (ML) thin films using pulsed laser deposition on (001) oriented lattice matched SrRuO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ (SRO/STO) substrates. X-ray diffraction and Raman analysis revealed that PZT and CFO were in the perovskite and spinel phases respectively, in the multilayer thin films having high crystalline quality. The TEM and STEM line scan of the multilayer thin films showed that the layered structure was maintained. Magnetic hysteresis loop showed the ferromagnetic behavior of ML structure, which is independent of the ML configuration. Ferroelectric properties and temperature dependence magnetization will be discussed.