Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Solid solution films of the σ-Fe2O3-FeTiO3 series are one of the candidates for noble half-metallic oxides. They were epitaxially formed on σ-Al2O3(001) single crystalline substrates by O2 -reactive evaporation method. The Fe2−x TixO3+σ films prepared at higher Ts=973 K and with larger Ti content x≤0.4 had the ilmenite structure with R3 symmetry. Other films at lower Ts or with smaller x possessed the corundum structure with R3c. Only the films with R3 symmetry had large ferrimagnetic moments, though the observed spontaneous magnetization was less than half of the ideal value expected from the fully ordered structure. Room temperature resistivity of intermediate composites dropped to 10−lΔcm due to the formation of the mixed valence states between Fe2+ and Fe3+. However the Fe2+ content of the films was rather small as compared with stoichiometric Fe2−xTixO3. The Ti-rich films had large oxygen nonstoichio netry of about σ=0.3.