Title: Effect of oxygen pressure on room-temperature ferromagnetism of Al co-doped Mn doped ZnO thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Authors: O.D. Jayakumar, A.K. Tyagi

Addresses: Chemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085, India. ' Chemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085, India

Abstract: Thin films of Al and Mn doped ZnO (Zn_0.97Mn_0.02Al_0.01O) were made using Pulsed Laser Deposition technique (PLD) on Si substrates maintained at a constant temperature of 400°C, under varying pressures of oxygen (O₂) and at a fixed pressure of 400 μbar nitrogen (N₂) atmospheres. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the deposited films indicated that they are predominantly oriented in the [002] direction. Magnetisation measurements as a function of field on these samples showed that the magnetic moment is sensitive to the O₂ pressure and the film deposited at 400 μbar of O₂ pressure shows significantly increased magnetic moment (4.44 μ_B/Mn) compared to other films. Depositing the film in N₂ atmosphere or changing the O₂ pressure to higher or lower values affected the magnetisation adversely. Magnetisation measurement, as a function of temperature, done on 400 μbar O₂ deposited film further confirmed its room temperature ferromagnetic behaviour (RTF).

Keywords: pulse laser deposition; ferromagnetism; thin films; X-ray diffraction; SEM; nanotechnology; oxygen pressure; room-temperature ferromagnetism; aluminium; magnesium; zinc oxide.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2010.034709

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2010 Vol.7 No.9/10/11/12, pp.1047 - 1053

Published online: 17 Aug 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article