  We report on the growth of epitaxial bilayers of the La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (LSMO)
half-metallic ferromagnet and the BiFeO3 (BFO) multiferroic, on SrTiO3(001) by
pulsed laser deposition. The growth mode of both layers is two-dimensional,
which results in unit-cell smooth surfaces. We show that both materials keep
their properties inside the heterostructures, i.e. the LSMO layer (11 nm thick)
is ferromagnetic with a Curie temperature of ~330K, while the BFO films shows
ferroelectricity down to very low thicknesses (5 nm). Conductive-tip atomic
force microscope mappings of BFO/LSMO bilayers for different BFO thicknesses
reveal a high and homogeneous resistive state for the BFO film that can thus be
used as a ferroelectric tunnel barrier in tunnel junctions based on a
half-metal.
