Obtaining strong ferromagnetism in diluted Gd-doped ZnO thin films through controlled Gd-defect complexes

Journal Article · Sat Feb 21 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4908288· OSTI ID:22413130

Venkatesh, S.; Zhang, Z.; Hussain, S.; Bantounas, I.; Flemban, T. H.; Schwingenschlogl, U. ^[1]; Franklin, J. B.; Zou, B.; Petrov, P. K.; Ryan, M. P.; Alford, N. M. ^[2]; Lee, J. -S. ^[3]

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1. Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900 (Saudi Arabia)
2. Department of Materials and London Centre for Nanotechnology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)
3. Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States)

We demonstrate the fabrication of reproducible long-range ferromagnetism (FM) in highly crystalline Gd{sub x}Zn{sub 1−x}O thin films by controlling the defects. Films are grown on lattice-matched substrates by pulsed laser deposition at low oxygen pressures (≤25 mTorr) and low Gd concentrations (x ≤ 0.009). These films feature strong FM (10 μ{sub B} per Gd atom) at room temperature. While films deposited at higher oxygen pressure do not exhibit FM, FM is recovered by post-annealing these films under vacuum. These findings reveal the contribution of oxygen deficiency defects to the long-range FM. We demonstrate the possible FM mechanisms, which are confirmed by density functional theory study, and show that Gd dopants are essential for establishing FM that is induced by intrinsic defects in these films.

• OSTI ID: 22413130
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANNEALING
CADMIUM COMPOUNDS
CONCENTRATION RATIO
DENSITY FUNCTIONAL METHOD
DOPED MATERIALS
ENERGY BEAM DEPOSITION
FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS
FERROMAGNETISM
LASER RADIATION
OXYGEN
PULSED IRRADIATION
SUBSTRATES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
THIN FILMS
ZINC OXIDES