The quest for dilute ferromagnetism in semiconductors: Guides and misguides by theory

Ferromagnetism in two-dimensional metal dibromides induced by hole-doping

Using spin-polarized first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we study the stability, electronic properties and magnetic behavior induced by hole-doping of two-dimensional (2D) PbBr₂ and HgBr₂. Although inherently nonmagnetic, these materials can exhibit stable ferromagnetic order when hole-doped at densities above a few 10¹³ cm^-2. We also examined the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic defects on inducing hole-doping and subsequent ferromagnetism. Our findings suggest that p-type doping can be achieved by Pb and Hg vacancies and Br antisites, but the latter behaves as deep acceptors. Among the possible dopants we considered, Li substituting Pb or Hg, and S replacing Br in 2D HgBr₂, can produce shallow acceptor states near the valence band edges and potentially result in a stable ferromagnetic order in these 2D dibromides.

Magnetic Order, Electrical Doping, and Charge-State Coupling at Amphoteric Defect Sites in Mn-Doped 2D Semiconductors

Two-dimensional (2D) dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) are attractive material platforms for applications in multifunctional nanospintronics due to the prospect of embedding controllable magnetic order within nanoscale semiconductors. Identifying candidate host material and dopant systems requires consideration of doping formation energies, magnetic ordering, and the tendency for dopants to form clustered domains. In this work, we consider the defect thermodynamics and the dilute magnetic properties across charge states of 2D-MoS₂ and 2D-WS₂ with Mn magnetic dopants as candidate systems for 2D-DMSs. Using hybrid density functional calculations, we study the magnetic and electronic properties of these systems across configurations with thermodynamically favorable defects: 2D-MoS₂ doped with Mn atoms at sulfur site (Mn_S), at two Mo sites (2Mn_Mo), on top of a Mo atom (Mn-top), and at a Mo site (Mn_Mo). While the majority of the Mn-defect complexes provide trap states, Mn_Mo and Mn_W are amphoteric, although previously predicted to be donor defects. The impact of cluster formation of these amphoteric defects on magnetic ordering is also considered; both Mn_Mo-Mn_Mo (2Mn_2Mo) and Mn_W-Mn_W (2Mn_2W) clusters are found to be stable in ferromagnetic (FM) ordering. Interestingly, we observed the defect charge state dependent magnetic behavior of 2Mn_2Mo and 2Mn_2W clusters in 2D-TMDs. We investigate that the FM coupling of 2Mn_2Mo and 2Mn_2W clusters is stable in only a neutral charge state; however, the antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling is stable in the +1 charge state. 2Mn_2Mo clusters provide shallow donor levels in AFM coupling and deep donor levels in FM coupling. 2Mn_2W clusters lead to trap states in the FM and AFM coupling. We demonstrate the AFM to FM phase transition at a critical electron density n^c_e = 3.5 × 10¹³ cm^-2 in 2D-MoS₂ and 2D-WS₂. At a 1.85% concentration of Mn, we calculate the Curie temperature of 580 K in the mean-field approximation.

Data driven modeling of magnetism in dilute magnetic semiconductors: correlation between the magnetic features of diluted magnetic semiconductors and electronic properties of the constituent atoms

We propose an efficient machine learning based approach in modeling the magnetism of diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) leading to the prediction of new compounds with enhanced magnetic properties. The approach combines accurate ab initio methods with statistical tools to uncover the correlation between the magnetic features of DMSs and electronic properties of the constituent atoms to determine the underlying factors responsible for the DMS-magnetism. Taking the electronic properties of different DMS systems as descriptors to train different regression models allows us to achieve a speed up of several orders of magnitude in the search for an optimum combination of the host semiconductor and the dopants with enhanced magnetic properties. We demonstrate this by analyzing a large set of descriptors for a wide range of systems and show that only 30% of these features are more likely to contribute to this property. We also show that training regression models with the reduced set of features to predict the total magnetic moment of new candidate DMSs has reduced the mean square error by about 20% compared to the models trained using the whole set of features. Furthermore, our results indicate that the predictive power of our method can be improved even more by extending our descriptor set.

Magnetic orders and origin of exchange bias in Co clusters embedded oxide nanocomposite films

Magnetic nanoparticles embedded oxide semiconductors are interesting candidates for spintronics in view of combining ferromagnetic (FM) and semiconducting properties. In this work, Co-ZnO and Co-V₂O₃ nanocomposite thin films are synthesized by Co ion implantation in crystalline thin films. Magnetic orders vary with the implantation fluence in Co-ZnO, where superparamagnetic (SPM) order appears in the low-fluence films (2  ×  10¹⁶ and 4  ×  10¹⁶ ions cm^-2) and FM order co-exists with the SPM phase in high-fluence films (1  ×  10¹⁷ ions cm^-2). Exchange bias (EB) appears in the high-fluence films, with an EB field of about 100 Oe at 2 K and a blocking temperature of around 100 K. On the other hand, Co-V₂O₃ thin films with an implantation fluence of 3.5  ×  10¹⁶ ions cm^-2 exhibit a clear antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling at low temperatures without the EB effect. The different magnetic behavior of the Co-implanted films with different Co content leads us to conclude that the observed EB effect in the Co-ZnO films results from the FM/AFM coupling between sizable Co nanoparticles and their CoO/Co₃O₄ surroundings in the (Zn,Co)O matrix. On the other hand, the absence of EB effect in Co-V₂O₃ appears to be due to the small size of the FM Co nanoparticles in spite of an AFM magnetic order. Detailed studies of magnetic orders and EB effect in magnetic nanocomposite semiconductors can pave the way for their application in spintronics.

Lanthanide atom substitutionally doped blue phosphorene: electronic and magnetic behaviors

Lanthanide-doped blue phosphorene is expected to become a novel dilute magnetic semiconductor material.

Weak d 0 ferromagnetism: Zn vacancy condensation in ZnS nanocrystals

We provide the explanation of the large discrepancy of three orders of magnitude between the experimentally measured and theoretically calculated magnetic moments in ZnS nanocrystals. We assume that the condensation of Zn vacancies into a single droplet takes place. The energy calculations reveal that the droplet phase is more favorable than the uniformly distributed vacancy configuration. The other assumption made is that a small magnetic moment could arise at the interface between the ZnS crystal and vacancy cluster. The calculations however dismiss this hypothesis because the magnetization of the layered system also vanishes. Thus we suggest that the experimentally low magnetization values could be explained from one of the two following pictures: (a) there are two phases where the vacancy cluster with the zero magnetic moment coexists along with the other phase, in which there are uniformly distributed Zn vacancies with low concentrations or (b) there is only a single vacancy phase-a vacancy droplet being in the metastable state with a weak nonvanishing magnetic moment.

Systematic study of room-temperature ferromagnetism and the optical response of Zn1-x TM x S/Se (TM = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) ferromagnets: first-principle approach

The structural, magnetic and optical characteristics of Zn_1-x TM _x S/Se (TM  =  Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and x  =  6.25%) have been investigated through the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method within the framework of density functional theory. The optimized structures have been used to calculate the ferromagnetic and the antiferromagnetic ground-state energies. The stability of the ferromagnetic phase has been confirmed from the formation and the cohesive energies. The Heisenberg model is used to elucidate the Curie temperature (T _c) of these alloys. From the band structures and density of states plots, it has been observed that TM-doped ZnS/Se alloys appear to be semiconductors and exhibit ferromagnetism. In addition, the observed ferromagnetism has also been explained in terms of direct exchange energy Δ _x (d), exchange splitting energy Δ _x (pd), crystal-field energy (E _crys), exchange constants (N ₀ α and N ₀ β) and magnetic moments that shows potential spintronic applications. The optical behaviors of these alloys have been explained in terms of real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant ε(ω), refractive index n(ω), extinction coefficient K(ω), reflectivity R(ω) and absorption coefficient σ(ω), in the energy range 0-25 eV. The calculated static limits of the band gaps and real part of the dielectric constants satisfy the Penn model. The critical limits of the imaginary part of the dielectric constants and absorption coefficients indicate that these alloys can be operated in the visible and the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum; therefore, make them important for optoelectronic applications.

Structural and Magnetic Properties of Transition-Metal-Doped Zn 1-x Fe x O

The ability to produce high-quality single-phase diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) is the driving factor to study DMS for spintronics applications. Fe-doped ZnO was synthesized by using a low-temperature co-precipitation technique producing Zn 1-x Fe x O nanoparticles (x= 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.1). Structural, Raman, density functional calculations, and magnetic studies have been carried out in studying the electronic structure and magnetic properties of Fe-doped ZnO. The results show that Fe atoms are substituted by Zn ions successfully. Due to the small ionic radius of Fe ions compared to that of a Zn ions, the crystal size decreases with an increasing dopant concentration. First-principle calculations indicate that the charge state of iron is Fe (2+) and Fe (3+) with a zinc vacancy or an interstitial oxygen anion, respectively. The calculations predict that the exchange interaction between transition metal ions can switch from the antiferromagnetic coupling into its quasi-degenerate ferromagnetic coupling by external perturbations. This is further supported and explains the observed ferromagnetic bahaviour at magnetic measurements. Magnetic measurements reveal that decreasing particle size increases the ferromagnetism volume fraction. Furthermore, introducing Fe into ZnO induces a strong magnetic moment without any distortion in the geometrical symmetry; it also reveals the ferromagnetic coupling.

Extremely Large Gate Modulation in Vertical Graphene/WSe2 Heterojunction Barristor Based on a Novel Transport Mechanism

A WSe2 -based vertical graphene-transition metal dichalcogenide heterojunction barristor shows an unprecedented on-current increase with decreasing temperature and an extremely high on/off-current ratio of 5 × 10(7) at 180 K (3 × 10(4) at room temperature). These features originate from a trap-assisted tunneling process involving WSe2 defect states aligned near the graphene Dirac point.

Ab initio study of the p-hole magnetism at polar surfaces of ZnO: the role of correlations

A standard local density approximation and its self-interaction corrected version are applied to study spontaneous magnetization, promoted by localized p electron holes, of polar oxygen-terminated ZnO surfaces. The electronic properties and magnetic exchange interactions of three different facets are calculated. It is demonstrated that partially filled oxygen p orbitals of the polar surfaces exhibit magnetic moment formation and long range magnetic order leading to the occurrence of a ferromagnetic ground state. Monte Carlo simulations predict Curie temperatures above room temperature. In contrast to isolated defects in bulk materials, applying correlation corrections to the localized p-like surface states does not lead to a collapse of magnetic interaction: as the weakening of the magnetic interaction, caused by the reduced electronic overlap, is compensated by a strengthening due to an increase of the magnetic moments, the ferromagnetism can principally persist above room temperature, provided a large hole concentration exists.

Multiferroic Vacancies at Ferroelectric PbTiO(3) Surfaces

Multiferroics in nanoscale dimensions are promising for novel functional device paradigms, such as magnetoelectric memories, due to an intriguing cross-coupling between coexisting ferroelectric and (anti)ferromagnetic order parameters. However, the ferroic order is inevitably destroyed below the critical dimension of several nanometers. Here, we demonstrate a new path towards atomic-size multiferroics while resolving the controversial origin of dilute ferromagnetism that unexpectedly emerges in nanoparticles of nonmagnetic ferroelectric PbTiO(3). Systematic exploration using predictive quantum-mechanical calculations demonstrates that oxygen vacancies formed at surfaces induce ferromagnetism due to local nonstoichiometry and orbital symmetry breaking. The localized character of the emerged magnetization allows an individual oxygen vacancy to act as an atomic-scale multiferroic element with a nonlinear magnetoelectric effect that involves rich ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic-nonmagnetic phase transitions in response to switching of the spontaneous polarization.

Multiferroic grain boundaries in oxygen-deficient ferroelectric lead titanate

Ultimately thin multiferroics arouse remarkable interest, motivated by the diverse utility of coexisting ferroelectric and (anti)ferromagnetic order parameters for novel functional device paradigms. However, the ferroic order is inevitably destroyed below a critical size of several nanometers. Here, we demonstrate a new path toward realization of atomically thin multiferroic monolayers while resolving a controversial origin for unexpected "dilute ferromagnetism" emerged in nanocrystals of nonmagnetic ferroelectrics PbTiO3. The state-of-the-art hybrid functional of Hartree-Fock and density functional theories successfully identifies the origin and underlying physics; oxygen vacancies interacting with grain boundaries (GBs) bring about (anti)ferromagnetism with localized spin moments at the neighboring Ti atoms. This is due to spin-polarized defect states with broken orbital symmetries at GBs. In addition, the energetics of oxygen vacancies indicates their self-assembling nature at GBs resulting in considerably high concentration, which convert the oxygen-deficient GBs into multiferroic monolayers due to their atomically thin interfacial structure. This synthetic concept that realizes multiferroic and multifunctional oxides in a monolayered geometry through the self-assembly of atomic defects and grain boundary engineering opens a new avenue for promising paradigms of novel functional devices.

An ab initio study on the electronic and magnetic properties of MgO with intrinsic defects

The magnetism in undoped MgO is mediated by holes and destroyed by electrons.

Possible mechanism for d0 ferromagnetism mediated by intrinsic defects

We present insights into the role of vacancies and surface states in the d⁰ ferromagnetism of ZnS nanostructures.

Extraordinary magnetoresistance in graphite: experimental evidence for the time-reversal symmetry breaking

We report a highly anisotropic in-plane magnetoresistance (MR) in graphite that possesses in-plane parallel line-like structural defects. In a current direction perpendicular to the line defects (LD), MR is negative and linear in low fields with a crossover to a positive MR at higher fields, while in a current direction parallel to LD, we observed a giant super-linear positive MR. These extraordinary MRs are respectively explained by a hopping magnetoresistance via non-zero angular momentum orbitals, and by the magnetoresistance of inhomogeneous media. The linear negative orbital MR is a unique signature of the broken time-reversal symmetry (TRS). We discuss the origin of the disorder-induced TRS-breaking in graphite.

Europium nitride: a novel diluted magnetic semiconductor

Europium nitride is semiconducting and contains nonmagnetic Eu3+, but substoichiometric EuN has Eu in a mix of 2+ and 3+ charge states. We show that at Eu2+ concentrations near 15%-20% EuN is ferromagnetic with a Curie temperature as high as 120 K. The Eu3+ polarization follows that of the Eu2+, confirming that the ferromagnetism is intrinsic to the EuN which is, thus, a novel diluted magnetic semiconductor. Transport measurements shed light on the likely exchange mechanisms.

Influence of film thickness and oxygen partial pressure on cation-defect-induced intrinsic ferromagnetic behavior in luminescent p-type Na-doped ZnO thin films

In this article, we have investigated the effect of oxygen partial pressure (PO2) and film thickness on defect-induced room-temperature (RT) ferromagnetism (FM) of highly c-axis orientated p-type Na-doped ZnO thin films fabricated by pulse laser deposition (PLD) technique. We have found that the substitution of Na at Zn site (NaZn) can be effective to stabilize intrinsic ferromagnetic (FM) ordering in ZnO thin films with Curie temperature (TC) as high as 509 K. The saturation magnetization (MS) is found to decrease gradually with the increase in thickness of the films, whereas an increase in "MS" is observed with the increase in PO2 of the PLD chamber. The enhancement of ferromagnetic signature with increasing PO2 excludes the possibility of oxygen vacancy (VO) defects for the magnetic origin in Na-doped ZnO films. On the other hand, remarkable enhancement in the green emission (IG) are observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic measurements due to Na-doping and that indicates the stabilization of considerable amount of Zn vacancy (VZn)-type defects in Na-doped ZnO films. Correlating the results of PL and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies with magnetic measurements we have found that VZn and Na substitutional (NaZn) defects are responsible for the hole-mediated FM in Na-doped ZnO films, which might be an effective candidate for modern spintronic technology.

p-electron magnetism in CdS doped with main group elements

On the basis of ab initio supercell calculations employing density functional theory (DFT) and post-DFT methods, we investigate the behavior of main group element impurities (B, C, N, Al, Si, P, Ga, Ge) in wurtzite (w) and zincblende (zb) CdS lattices. It is found that the impurities prefer the sulfur position and most of them, depending on the concentration, exhibit magnetic order. We find that for small concentrations (64zb and 72w supercells) a half-metallic behavior is found. For a 16-atom supercell for both the zb- and w-structure partly also unsaturated magnetic moments occur. The field dependence of the magnetic moments in these materials may lead to new technological applications of these magnetic semiconductors as tunable spin injection materials.

Nitrogen- and fluorine-doped ZrO2: a promising p-n junction for an ultraviolet light-emitting diode

In this work we study the effect of nitrogen (N) and fluorine (F) doping on the electronic properties of ZrO(2) by using ab initio electronic structure calculations. Our calculations show the importance of on-site Coulomb correlation in estimating the correct band gap of ZrO(2). The N and F doping provide hole- and electron-type impurity states in the band gap closer to the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band, respectively. The formation of such impurity states may be exploited in fabricating a p-n junction expected to be useful in making an ultraviolet light-emitting diode.

Ab initio calculation of strain effect on the magnetic properties of the thiogermanate [(CH3)4N]2FeGe4S10

The magnetic properties of the thiogermanate TMA(2)FeGe(4)S(10) (TMA=[(CH(3))(4)N](+)), and the influence of large strain are investigated by ab initio density functional theory calculations. An analysis of the electronic structure is provided considering antiferromagnetic (AFM), ferromagnetic (FM) and nonmagnetic configurations for the thiogermanate at the equilibrium states. A small difference in total energy between the FM and AFM states suggests that the thiogermanate TMA(2)FeGe(4)S(10) may possess a low Curie temperature. Changes in electronic structure and magnetic moment of the thiogermanate under strain are closely related to the distortion of FeS(4) tetrahedral units. With the help of a simplified molecule model, we show that, while the origin of the drastic change in magnetism under high isotropic compressions mainly originates from the decrease in the Fe-S interatomic bond length, the changes in the electronic structure between - 10% and + 15% isotropic strains are mainly due to the variations of the interatomic bond angles. Little effect of shear strain on the magnetic properties is found since the FeS(4) tetrahedral units rotate under shear, hence keeping their shape.

Hopping magnetotransport via nonzero orbital momentum states and organic magnetoresistance

In hopping magnetoresistance of doped insulators, an applied magnetic field shrinks the electron (hole) s-wave function of a donor or an acceptor and this reduces the overlap between hopping sites resulting in the positive magnetoresistance quadratic in a weak magnetic field, B. We extend the theory of hopping magnetoresistance to states with nonzero orbital momenta. Different from s states, a weak magnetic field expands the electron (hole) wave functions with positive magnetic quantum numbers, m>0, and shrinks the states with negative m in a wide region outside the point defect. This together with a magnetic-field dependence of injection/ionization rates results in a negative weak-field magnetoresistance, which is linear in B when the orbital degeneracy is lifted. The theory provides a possible explanation of a large low-field magnetoresistance in disordered π-conjugated organic materials.

Defect-driven magnetism in luminescent n/p-type pristine and Gd-substituted SnO2 nanocrystalline thin films

The effects of rare-earth-element Gd doping on the intrinsic magnetic ordering, photoluminescence, and electrical-conducting properties of the pristine SnO(2) nanocrystalline thin films fabricated by radio-frequency (RF) sputtering are investigated. The pristine SnO(2) thin film exhibits significant ferromagnetism while Gd doping results in an absence of intrinsic ferromagnetism. The presence of large amounts of singly ionized oxygen vacancies (V(O)(+)) is traced by photoluminescence spectroscopic analysis and they are found to be responsible for the observed ferromagnetism in pristine SnO(2) thin films. A significant reduction of oxygen vacancies is observed after Gd doping, and that might be insufficient to mediate long-range ferromagnetic ordering between V(O)(+) defects in a Gd-doped SnO(2) system. Although the associated magnetic moment is increased by 1 order of magnitude, because of the insertion of Gd(3+) ions, which have localized f-shell paramagnetic moment, there is no intrinsic FM ordering. Hall measurement reveals that the pure SnO(2) exhibits n-type behavior whereas Gd-doped SnO(2) films show the p-type conductivity with higher resistivity. The studies demonstrate that only structural defects such as V(O)(+) defects, not magnetic ions such as Gd(3+), are responsible for inducing ferromagnetism in SnO(2) thin films.

Spin-polarized density functional investigation into ferromagnetism in C-doped (ZnO)n clusters; n = 1-12, 16

We investigate the ferromagnetism in ZnO clusters due to vacancy defects and C impurities doped at substitutional O or Zn sites, and interstitial sites. The total energy calculations suggest C at the O site is more stable than that at the Zn site in ZnO clusters. The total magnetic moments of Zn(n)O(n-m)C(m) clusters are 2.0 μ(B)/C. However, when two C atoms are bonded to the same Zn atom they interact antiferromagnetically and the total magnetic moment becomes less than 2.0 μ(B)/C. The interstitial C defects in ZnO clusters induce small magnetic moments. The combination of substitutional and interstitial C defects in ZnO clusters leads to magnetic moments of 0.0-2.0 μ(B)/C. The presence of vacancy defects in addition to substitutional C defects gives magnetic moments of greater than 2.0 μ(B)/C. These results suggest that the experimentally observed sample dependence of magnetic moments in ZnO systems is largely due to the different concentrations of substitutional and interstitial C impurities and the presence of vacancy defects in ZnO samples prepared under different growth conditions.

Magnetism in C- or N-doped MgO and ZnO: a density-functional study of impurity pairs

It is shown that substitution of C or N for O recently proposed as a way to create ferromagnetism in otherwise nonmagnetic oxide insulators is curtailed by formation of impurity pairs, and the resultant C2 spin=1 dimers as well as the isoelectronic N2(2+) interact antiferromagnetically in p-type MgO. For C-doped ZnO, however, we demonstrate using the Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof hybrid functional that a resonance of the spin-polarized C2 ppπ* states with the host conduction band results in a long-range ferromagnetic interaction. Magnetism of open-shell impurity molecules is proposed as a possible route to d(0)-ferromagnetism in oxide spintronic materials.