Defects in paramagnetic Co-doped ZnO films studied by transmission electron microscopy

Journal Article · Sat Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4851015· OSTI ID:22217721

Kovács, A.; Duchamp, M.; Boothroyd, C. B.; Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. ^[1]; Ney, A.; Ney, V. ^[2]; Galindo, P. L. ^[3]; Kaspar, T. C.; Chambers, S. A. ^[4]

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1. Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich (Germany)
2. Institut für Halbleiter- und Festkörperphysik, Johannes Kepler Universität, Altenberger Str. 69, 4040 Linz (Austria)
3. Departamento de Ingeniería Informática, Universidad de Cádiz, 11510 Cádiz (Spain)
4. Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354 (United States)

We study planar defects in epitaxial Co:ZnO dilute magnetic semiconductor thin films deposited on c-plane sapphire (Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}), as well as the Co:ZnO/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} interface, using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Co:ZnO samples that were deposited using pulsed laser deposition and reactive magnetron sputtering are both found to contain extrinsic stacking faults, incoherent interface structures, and compositional variations within the first 3–4 Co:ZnO layers next to the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} substrate. The stacking fault density is in the range of 10{sup 17} cm{sup −3}. We also measure the local lattice distortions around the stacking faults. It is shown that despite the relatively high density of planar defects, lattice distortions, and small compositional variation, the Co:ZnO films retain paramagnetic properties.

• OSTI ID: 22217721
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 114, Issue 24; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
COBALT
DEFECTS
DEPOSITS
DOPED MATERIALS
ENERGY BEAM DEPOSITION
ENERGY-LOSS SPECTROSCOPY
EPITAXY
LASER RADIATION
LAYERS
MAGNETIC SEMICONDUCTORS
PARAMAGNETISM
PULSED IRRADIATION
SAPPHIRE
SPUTTERING
STACKING FAULTS
SUBSTRATES
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ZINC OXIDES