Magnetic properties of epitaxial Mn-doped ZnO thin films

Epitaxial ZnO thin films doped with 7% Mn have been made by reactive rf magnetron sputtering onto (112_0) sapphire substrates at 400°C. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that the Zn0.93Mn0.07O film has a (0001) wurtzite single-crystal structure with a rocking curve width of 0.98°. UV-VIS absorption spectra show a band gap of 3.25 eV for pure ZnO films and 3.31 eV for the Zn0.93Mn0.07O film with states extending into the gap. The Auger electron spectroscopy shows homogeneous distribution of Mn in the film. The magnetic properties of the Zn0.93Mn0.07O film have been measured by a superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer at various temperatures with fields up to 5 T. No ferromagnetic ordering has been observed at temperature at 5 K. Instead, paramagnetic characteristics with a Curie-Weiss behavior have been observed