Ferromagnetism In Sol-gel Derived ZnO: Mn Nanocrystalline Thin Films

¹Department of Electronics, Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi, Delhi 110002, India

²Department of Electronics Science, University of Delhi South Campus, Delhi 110021, India

³Department of Frontier Materials, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya 4668555, Japan

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2016, 7 (2), pp 116-122

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2016.5966

Publication Date (Web): Jan 04, 2016

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail: shishodiaprem@gmail.com

Abstract

This paper reports the growth of Mn doped ZnO thin films by sol-gel technique with different Mn concentration (0-20 %). Structural and vibrational properties have been measured by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The films exhibit crystalline nature with (002) preferential orientation. The crystallite size and lattice parameters have been estimated as a function of Mn concentration. The Raman spectrum of the ZnO film shows the peaks corresponding to E₂ (high) mode at 434 cm^-1 assigned to Zn-O bond and A₁ (LO) mode at 575 cm^-1. The elemental analysis of the films have been performed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirms the presence of Zn, O and Mn in doped films. Surface morphology and roughness of the films are observed by atomic force microscopy. The optical bandgap is found to decrease with Mn concentration as estimated by Tauc’s plots. Room temperature ferromagnetism has been obtained in ZnO: Mn thin films by superconducting quantum interference device. 

Keywords

ZnO: Mn, dilute magnetic semiconductor, thin films, ferromagnetism.