Room temperature ferromagnetism in Mn+-implanted Si nanowires

Abstract

Room temperature ferromagnetism of Mn+-implanted Si nanowires (NWs) has been discovered. The saturation magnetization was found to increase with the Mn concentration. Healing the damages in crystallinity at 600°C led to an increase in magnetization, while the ferromagnetism disappeared upon annealing at 800°C as Mn atoms segregated to the surface of NWs. The results indicate that Mn+-implanted Si NWs are potentially useful for nanoscale spintronics applications.