Structural and ferromagnetic properties of epitaxial SrRuO₃ thin films obtained by polymer-assisted deposition

Epitaxial ferromagnetic SrRuO₃ thin films with a room-temperature resistivity of 300 μΩ-cm have been successfully grown on LaAlO₃(001) substrates at a processing temperature in the range of 550-750°C by a polymer-assisted deposition technique. X-ray diffraction analysis shows good epitaxial quality of SrRuO₃ thin films, giving values of the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 0.42° from the rocking curve for the (002) reflection and 1.1° from the in-plane φ scan for the (204) reflection. Both the resistivity and the magnetization versus temperature measurements show that the SrRuO₃ films are ferromagnetic with a transition temperature of 160 K. The spontaneous magnetization near the ferromagnetic transition follows the scaling law, and the low-temperature magnetization follows the Bloch law.