  Anti-phase boundaries (APBs) normally form as a consequence of the initial
growth conditions in all spinel ferrite thin films. The presence of APBs in
epitaxial films of the inverse spinel Fe3O4 alters their electronic and
magnetic properties due to strong antiferromagnetic (AF) interactions across
these boundaries. The effect of using in-situ electric field assisted growth on
the migration of APBs in hetero epitaxial Fe3O4(100)/MgO(100) thin films have
been explored in the present work. The electric field assisted growth is found
to reduce the AF interactions across APBs and as a consequence APBs free thin
film like properties are obtained, which have been probed by electronic,
magnetic and structural characterization. An increase in energy associated with
the nucleation and/or early stage of the growth and, therefore, a corresponding
increase in surface mobility of the ad-atoms play a critical role in
controlling the density of APBs. This innovative technique can be employed to
grow epitaxial spinel thin films with controlled AF interactions across APBs.
