The effect of V2O5 on the growth and properties of Bi-YIG

The effect of V2O5 additions to PbO-Bi2O3 flux was investigated with respect to the properties of Bi-YIG epitaxial films for magnetic bubble devices. The Bi content of the films (including an estimated 10% Pt2+) were calculated from Faraday rotation measurements. For films grown at constant supercooling the Bi content increased by 60% as the V2O5 content of the flux was increased from 0 to 9 mol%. Lattice constant data were shown to agree with measured Bi and Ca−Si contents. The growth-induced magnetic anisotropy increased proportionally to the Bi content and could be fairly represented by a model Kug = A + BxBt + C 4πMs; however, the coefficients vary widely between data sets for different melt compositions.