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Grain boundary defects induced room temperature ferromagnetism in V doped ZnO thin films
Author(s) -
Jayalakshmi G.,
Gopalakrishnan N.,
Panigrahi B. K.,
Balasubramanian T.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
crystal research and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.377
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1521-4079
pISSN - 0232-1300
DOI - 10.1002/crat.201100226
Subject(s) - materials science , raman spectroscopy , photoluminescence , thin film , raman scattering , analytical chemistry (journal) , ferromagnetism , sapphire , doping , sputter deposition , grain boundary , hall effect , sputtering , condensed matter physics , chemistry , nanotechnology , electrical resistivity and conductivity , optoelectronics , optics , metallurgy , microstructure , laser , physics , chromatography , electrical engineering , engineering
Abstract Vanadium (V) doped ZnO thin films (Zn 1‐ x V x O, where x = 0, 0.05, 0.10) have been grown on sapphire substrates by RF magnetron sputtering to realize room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM). The grown films have been subjected to X‐ray diffraction (XRD), resonant Raman scattering, photoluminescence (PL) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements to investigate their structural, optical and magnetic properties, respectively. The full width at half maximum of XRD and Raman scattering peaks increases with V ion concentration indicates that the V ions have been substituted on Zn 2+ ions in the ZnO matrix. The increase in oxygen vacancies with V concentration is evidenced by PL measurements. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry analysis confirms the presence of the V ions in the films. The room temperature VSM measurements reveal the signature of ferromagnetism in V doped ZnO thin films. It has been observed that the grain boundary defects, i.e., oxygen vacancies play a crucial role in inducing RTFM in V doped ZnO films. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)