2 research outputs found
Nanosized superparamagnetic precipitates in cobalt-doped ZnO
The existence of semiconductors exhibiting long-range ferromagnetic ordering
at room temperature still is controversial. One particularly important issue is
the presence of secondary magnetic phases such as clusters, segregations,
etc... These are often tedious to detect, leading to contradictory
interpretations. We show that in our cobalt doped ZnO films grown
homoepitaxially on single crystalline ZnO substrates the magnetism
unambiguously stems from metallic cobalt nano-inclusions. The magnetic behavior
was investigated by SQUID magnetometry, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, and
AC susceptibility measurements. The results were correlated to a detailed
microstructural analysis based on high resolution x-ray diffraction,
transmission electron microscopy, and electron-spectroscopic imaging. No
evidence for carrier mediated ferromagnetic exchange between diluted cobalt
moments was found. In contrast, the combined data provide clear evidence that
the observed room temperature ferromagnetic-like behavior originates from
nanometer sized superparamagnetic metallic cobalt precipitates.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures; details about background subtraction added to
section III. (XMCD