Ferromagnetism in Ti-doped ZnO thin films

Abstract

We report our study on the origin of ferromagnetism in Ti-doped ZnO. A series of Ti doped ZnO films with increasing concentration of Ti dopant were grown and characterized in terms of structural, electrical, and magnetic properties. We found that Ti has a low solubility in the ZnO wurtzite structure. This favors stabilization of a large number of Zn vacancies, and theoretical calculations have shown that they can carry substantial magnetic moment. A carrier mediated exchange interaction between Zn vacancies is at the origin of the surprisingly high magnetic moment we measure in this compound.