Epitaxial growth and properties of Zn1−xVxO diluted magnetic semiconductor thin films

Here we report systematic studies on the epitaxial growth and properties of Zn1−xVxO[x=0.001-0.2] thin films deposited onto sapphire c-plane single crystals. The thin films were deposited using pulsed laser deposition technique and were found to be epitaxial in nature. X-ray diffraction and high resolution transmission electron microscopy were employed to study the epitaxial relations of Zn1−xVxO with the sapphire substrate and electron energy loss spectroscopy was used to establish the bonding characteristics and oxidation states of vanadium inside the ZnO host. The main emphasis is on the magnetic properties of this system taking into consideration the phase purity and microstructural characteristics of these films. Our results show that the Zn1−xVxO system, with V in zinc substitutional sites, does not exhibit any signature of ferromagnetism, both at room temperature as well as at lower temperatures down to 10 K.