Magnetic properties of V-doped ZnO thin films

Ferromagnetic V-doped ZnO films were fabricated by the conventional pulsed-laser deposition technique on R-cut sapphire substrates from a ceramic target that was made by sol-gel method. All films are highly crystallized to be wurtzite. V-doped ZnO thin films grown at 600–650°C show room-temperature ferromagnetism along with a spin-glass-like behavior at low temperatures. It is found that V atoms were distributed very uniformly in the ZnO matrix. However, different growth conditions could result in different values of the saturation magnetic moment, and an increase of the substrate temperature above 650°C seems to favor a secondary phase, which is antiferromagnetic.