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Enhance ferromagnetism by stabilizing the cation vacancies in GaN

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Abstract

The magnetic properties related to cation vacancies in GaN are investigated by first-principles calculations. The results show that a neutral Ga-vacancy induces 3μ B magnetic moment in GaN, but is difficult to form due to the high formation energy. It is found that the Ga-vacancy formation energy can be reduced by adding electrons with uniform compensating positive background charge, by nano-structure engineering, or by co-doping donor-like defects. The Ga-vacancy induced colossal magnetic moment in Gd-doped GaN can be modulated by co-doping the donor like defects. It is suggested that ferromagnetism enhanced by stabilizing the cation vacancies may be applied to other wide band-gap semiconductors as well.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Physics and Electronics, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, 421008, P.R. China

    Zhen-kun Tang & Deng-Yu Zhang

  2. Department of Applied Physics, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P.R. China

    Zhen-kun Tang, Li-Ming Tang, Ling-Ling Wang & Ke-Qiu Chen

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  1. Zhen-kun Tang
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  2. Deng-Yu Zhang
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  3. Li-Ming Tang
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  4. Ling-Ling Wang
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  5. Ke-Qiu Chen
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Correspondence to Li-Ming Tang, Ling-Ling Wang or Ke-Qiu Chen.

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Tang, Zk., Zhang, DY., Tang, LM. et al. Enhance ferromagnetism by stabilizing the cation vacancies in GaN. Eur. Phys. J. B 86, 284 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-30474-0

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