Structural and magnetic properties of ScFeO₃ compound were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) in comparison with those of Fe2O3 and
Sc₂O₃. The specimens were prepared as thin films under identical sol-gel deposition process. The XRD data
indicated that the ScFeO3 specimen have cubic bixbyite structure, identical to that of the Sc₂O₃ specimen but
different from that of the Fe2O3 specimen (rhombohedral). The estimated lattice constant of ScFeO₃ is smaller
than that of Sc₂O₃ by 2.9 %. According to the VSM data, the ScFeO₃ specimen showed a magnetic hysteresis
curve that is alike in shape to that of the Fe₂O₃ specimen with the saturation magnetization of the former (2.6
emu/cm3) being smaller by 30 % than that of the latter (3.7 emu/cm3). The observed small magnetization in
ScFeO₃ implies an antiferromagnetic spin alignment of neighboring Fe3+ ions with canted spin magnetic
moment.