Selective-Area Micropatterning of Liquid-Phase Epitaxy-Grown Iron Garnet Films

We investigated selective-area micropatterning of iron garnet film grown by liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE). This method of producing a flat-surface structure overcomes the disadvantages of geometrical grooves, which are formed by wet or dry etching, with a limited resolution due to underetching and nonplanar structure. Moreover, patterned iron garnet films grown by selective-area LPE have better single-crystal properties than films grown by selective-area sputter epitaxy deposition. Thus, this method offers new possibilities for the fabrication of integrated magnetooptic light switch arrays, magnetic waveguides and other magnetooptic devices.