Magnetism and structure of anatase (Ti1-xVx)O2 films

Authors

Damien Le Roy, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Shah R. Valloppilly, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Ralph Skomski, University of Nebraska at LincolnFollow
Sy-Hwang Liou, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
David J. Sellmyer, NCMNFollow

Date of this Version

2012

Citation

JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 111, 07C118 (2012); doi:10.1063/1.3679434

Comments

Copyright 2012 American Institute of Physics

Abstract

Anatase TiO₂ is known as a promising host material for a wide-gap ferromagnetic semiconductor as it is a good solvent for numerous transition-metal elements. We report on the structural and magnetic properties of epitaxially grown anatase (Ti_1-xV_x)O₂ layers where x covers the whole range of solubility of V atoms in anatase TiO₂ and beyond the solubility limit of 21%. We measured an average magnetic moment per vanadium as high as 1 µ_B with a magnetic percolation threshold of less than 6% which agrees with recent theoretical predictions. Interestingly, our results show a decrease of the average V magnetic moment as x increases throughout the solubility range. Anatase (Ti_1-xV_x)O₂ is no longer present beyond the solubility limit, where the nonmagnetic VO₂ phase forms and destroys the net magnetization.