Rusydi A, Dhar S, Barman AR, Qi DC, Motapothula M, Yi JB, Santoso I, Feng YP, Yang K, Dai Y, Yakovlev NL, Ding J, Wee ATS, Neuber G, Breese MBH, Ruebhausen M, Hilgenkamp H, Venkatesan T. Cationic-vacancy-induced room-temperature ferromagnetism in transparent, conducting anatase Ti1-xTaxO2 (x~0.05) thin films.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci 2012;
370:4927-4943. [PMID:
22987036 DOI:
10.1098/rsta.2012.0198]
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Abstract
We report room-temperature ferromagnetism (FM) in highly conducting, transparent anatase Ti(1-x)Ta(x)O(2) (x∼0.05) thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition on LaAlO(3) substrates. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), X-ray diffraction, proton-induced X-ray emission, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry indicated negligible magnetic contaminants in the films. The presence of FM with concomitant large carrier densities was determined by a combination of superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry, electrical transport measurements, soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (SXMCD), XAS and optical magnetic circular dichroism, and was supported by first-principles calculations. SXMCD and XAS measurements revealed a 90 per cent contribution to FM from the Ti ions, and a 10 per cent contribution from the O ions. RBS/channelling measurements show complete Ta substitution in the Ti sites, though carrier activation was only 50 per cent at 5 per cent Ta concentration, implying compensation by cationic defects. The role of the Ti vacancy (V(Ti)) and Ti(3+) was studied via XAS and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, respectively. It was found that, in films with strong FM, the V(Ti) signal was strong while the Ti(3+) signal was absent. We propose (in the absence of any obvious exchange mechanisms) that the localized magnetic moments, V(Ti) sites, are ferromagnetically ordered by itinerant carriers. Cationic-defect-induced magnetism is an alternative route to FM in wide-band-gap semiconducting oxides without any magnetic elements.
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