Growth and Investigation of Heterostructures Based on Multiferroic $BiFeO_3$

We report heteroepitaxial growth of multiferroic $BiFeO_3$ thin films by RF magnetron sputtering on lattice-matched $SrTiO_3$ substrates, as well as preparation and electrical properties of the heterostructures formed by growing $BiFeO_3$ thin films on highly conductive $LaNiO_3$ films and n-Si substrates. Nonlinear and rectifying current-voltage (I-U) characteristics were revealed for the heterojunctions in a wide temperature range (T=78-300 K).