Variations in mechanical properties for BFO thin films deposited under different conditions are discussed in conjunction with the crystalline structure, grain size, and surface morphology of the resultant films. Methods The BFO thin films investigated in this study were deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrates at the deposition temperatures of 350°C, 400°C, and 450°C, respectively. The deposition process was conducted in a radio frequency magnetron sputtering system, and a

commercially available Bi1.1FeO3 pellet was used as the target. The base pressure of the sputtering chamber was better than 1 × 10−7 Torr. During deposition, a mixed gas of Ar/O2 = 4:1 with a total pressure was introduced, and the input power was maintained at 80 W. All of the BFO thin films are about 200 nm thick. The composition of the film was identified by an energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and double checked by X-ray MK0683 mw fluorescence analysis. The crystal structure of BFO thin films was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (X’Pert XRD, PANalytical B.V., Almelo, The Netherlands; CuKα, λ = 1.5406 Å). The selleckchem surface features were examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM; Topometrix-Accures-II, Topometrix Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, USA). The root mean square of the surface roughness, R RMS, was calculated by the

following equation [16]: (1) Here N is the number of data and r n is the surface height of the nth datum. Nanoindentation experiments were preformed on a MTS Nano Indenter® XP system (MTS Nano Instruments, Knoxville, TN, USA) with a three-sided pyramidal

Berkovich indenter tip by using the CSM technique [15]. This technique is accomplished by imposing a small, sinusoidal varying force on top of the applied linear force that drives the motion of the indenter. The displacement response of the indenter at the excitation frequency and the phase angle between the force and displacement are measured continuously as a function of the penetration depth. Solving for the in-phase and out-of-phase portions of the displacement response gives rise to the determination of the Casein kinase 1 contact stiffness as a continuous function of depth. As such, the mechanical properties changing with respect to the indentation depth can be obtained. The nanoindentation measurements were carried out as follows: First, prior to applying loading on BFO thin films, nanoindentation was conducted on the standard fused silica sample to obtain the reasonable range (Young’s modulus of fused silica is 68~72 GPa). Then, a constant strain rate of 0.05 s−1 was maintained during the increment of load until the indenter reached a depth of 60 nm into the surface. The load was then held at the maximum value of loading for 10 s in order to avoid the creep which might significantly affect the unloading behavior.