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Diluted magnetic characteristics of Ni-doped AlN films via ion implantation

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Abstract

The structural and magnetic properties, as well as the mechanism of magnetization, of Ni-implanted AlN films were studied. AlN was deposited on Al2O3 substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and subsequently Ni ions were implanted into the AlN films by Metal Vapor Arc (MEVVA) sources at an energy of 100 keV for 3 h. The films were annealed at 900°C for 1 h in the furnace in order to transfer the Ni ions from interstitial sites to substitutional sites in AlN, thus activating the Ni3+ ions. Characterizations were performed in situ using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), which showed that the films have a wurtzite structure without the formation of a secondary phase after implanting and annealing. Ni ions were successfully implanted into substitutional sites of AlN films, and the chemical bonding states are Ni-N. The apparent hysteresis loops prove that the films exhibited magnetism at 300 K. The room temperature (RT) saturation magnetization moment (M s ) and coercivity (H c ) values were about 0.36 emu/g and 35.29 Oe, respectively. From the first-principles calculation, a total magnetic moment of 2.99 μB per supercell is expected, and the local magnetic moment of a NiN4 tetrahedron, 2.45 μB, makes the primary contribution. The doped Ni atom hybridizes with four nearby N atoms in a NiN4 tetrahedron; then the electrons of the N atoms are spin-polarized and couple with the electrons of the Ni atom with strong magnetization, which results in magnetism. Therefore, the p-d exchange mechanism between Ni-3d and N-2p can be the origin of the magnetism. It is expected that these room temperature, ferromagnetic, Ni-doped AlN films will have many potential applications as diluted magnetic semiconductors.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Nos. 2016YFB0400901, and 2016YFB0400804), the Key Laboratory of Infrared Imaging Materials and Detectors, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. IIMDKFJJ-15-07), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61675079, 11574166, and 61377034), and the Director Fund of WNLO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Chong Zhao, Qixin Wan, Jiangnan Dai, Jun Zhang, Feng Wu, Shuai Wang, Hanling Long, Jingwen Chen, Cheng Chen & Changqing Chen

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  1. Chong Zhao
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  2. Qixin Wan
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  3. Jiangnan Dai
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  4. Jun Zhang
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  5. Feng Wu
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  7. Hanling Long
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  9. Cheng Chen
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  10. Changqing Chen
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Correspondence to Jiangnan Dai.

Additional information

Chong Zhao received the B.E. degree from Wuhan University of Technology in 2013, and the M.E. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2017. His current research interest is diluted magnetic semiconductor.

Qixin Wan received the B.E. degree from Nanchang University. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His current research interest is wide bandgap semiconductor.

Jiangnan Dai received the B.E. degree from Hunan University of Science and Technology in 2002, and the Ph.D. degree from Nanchang University in 2007. Since 2010, he has been an associate professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where he worked on photoelectric device based on wide bandgap semiconductor.

Jun Zhang received the B.E. degree from Jianghan University in 2012, and the Ph.D. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2017. His current research interest is photoelectric device.

Feng Wu received the B.E. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2012, and the Ph.D. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2017. His current research interest is photoelectric device.

Shuai Wang received the B.E. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2013. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His current research interest is photoelectric device.

Hanling Long received the B.E. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2014. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His current research interest is photoelectric device.

Jingwen Chen received the B.E. degree from Beijing Jiaotong University in 2014. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His current research interest is photoelectric device.

Cheng Chen received the B.E. degree from Wuhan Institute Of Technology in 2014, and the Ph.D. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2017. His current research interest is photoelectric device.

Changqing Chen received the B.E. degree from Wuhan University in 1992, and the Ph.D. degree from University of Erlangen-Nürnberg in 2000. Since 2007, he has been a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where he worked on lighting emitting diode.

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Zhao, C., Wan, Q., Dai, J. et al. Diluted magnetic characteristics of Ni-doped AlN films via ion implantation. Front. Optoelectron. 10, 363–369 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-017-0728-2

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