Effects of aqueous ethanol solutions on the structural and magnetic properties of NiZn ferrite thin films prepared by spin-spray deposition

Although substrate wettability greatly impacts deposition processes using the spin-spray technique, there are few substrates suitable for the deposition of spin-sprayed ferrite thin films. To tune substrate wettability without changing the type of substrate, we demonstrate a Ni0.17Zn0.52Fe2.31O4 ferrite film deposited by the spin-spray technique on a 0.2 mm glass substrate with 0–5% aqueous ethanol solutions. All samples showed (222) preferential orientation and triangular grain morphology. The effects of aqueous ethanol solutions on the microstructure and magnetic properties of ferrite thin films were also investigated. When the ethanol volume percent concentration equaled 3%, the columnar morphology of the microstructure was most evident and the saturation magnetization and the real permeability reached their maximum values. Because of the shape anisotropy of the columnar structure, the coercivity of the parallel magnetic field increased, whereas the coercivity of the perpendicular magnetic field decreased. First-order inversion curve measurements revealed that ethanol-containing ferrite thin films had a more uniform grain size.