Electron paramagnetic resonance in transition metal-doped ZnO nanowires

Abstract

The wide-band-gap zinc oxide-based diluted magnetic semiconductors currently attract considerable attention due to their possible use in spintronic devices. In this work, we studied ZnO nanowire samples synthesized on 10×10 mm2 a-plane sapphire substrates by high-pressure pulsed laser deposition. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in the X-band (≃9.3 GHz) from T=4 to 300 K. According to the SEM pictures, the nanowires exhibit a length of about 1 μm and are aligned perpendicular to the substrate surface. The structures have a hexagonal cross section and their diameter ranges from 60 nm up to 150 nm. For the lowest nominal concentrations of xMn=3 at. % and xCo=5 at. %, we detect the anisotropic EPR spectra of isolated Mn2+ (3d5, S6) and Co2+ (3d7, F4), respectively, on Zn sites. The detection of the well-resolved anisotropic spectra proves a coherent crystallographic orientation of the nanowires. The linewidth was larger than the best values reported in the literature. Nevertheless, it was possible to identify two different components, A and B, of the reported spectra. From the temperature dependence of the EPR intensity, we found that both components exhibit paramagnetic behavior and are present in a concentration ratio of NB∕NA=1.4. In the case of the Mn-doped ZnO wires, the linewidth increases with increasing Mn concentration due to the dipole-dipole interaction of the paramagnetic ions. At the highest used nominal concentration, xMn=10 at. %, an additional broad single line is observed.