Paramagnetism and antiferromagnetic interactions in single-phase Fe-implanted ZnO

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2013

Authors

pereira, l. m. c. (Author) Other; wahl, u. (Author) Other; correia, j. g. (Author) Other; van bael, m. j. (Author) Other; temst, k. (Author) Other; vantomme, a. (Author) Other; araujo, j. p. (Author) FCUP

Journal

Title: Journal of Physics Condensed Matter

Vol. 25

Final page: 416001

ISSN: 0953-8984

Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 24 Citations

Scopus - 24 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-006-6JE

DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/25/41/416001

Abstract (EN): As the intrinsic origin of the high-temperature ferromagnetism often observed in wide-gap dilute magnetic semiconductors becomes increasingly debated, there is a growing need for comprehensive studies on the single-phase region of the phase diagram of these materials. Here we report on the magnetic and structural properties of Fe-doped ZnO prepared by ion implantation of ZnO single crystals. A detailed structural characterization shows that the Fe impurities substitute for Zn in ZnO in a wurtzite Zn1-xFexO phase which is coherent with the ZnO host. In addition, the density of beam-induced defects is progressively decreased by thermal annealing up to 900 degrees C, from highly disordered after implantation to highly crystalline upon subsequent annealing. Based on a detailed analysis of the magnetometry data, we demonstrate that isolated Fe impurities occupying Zn-substitutional sites behave as localized paramagnetic moments down to 2 K, irrespective of the Fe concentration and the density of beam-induced defects. With increasing local concentration of Zn-substitutional Fe, strong nearest-cation-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions favor the antiparallel alignment of the Fe moments.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 15