Structural, magnetic and electronic structure studies of Mn doped TiO2 thin films

We report structural, magnetic and electronic structure study of Mn doped TiO₂ thin films grown using pulsed laser deposition method. The films were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), dc magnetization, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy measurements. XRD results indicate that films exhibit single phase nature with rutile structure and exclude the secondary phase related to Mn metal cluster or any oxide phase of Mn. Magnetization studies reveal that both the films (3% and 5% Mn doped TiO₂) exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism and saturation magnetization increases with increase in concentration of Mn doping. The spectral features of XMCD at Mn L_3,2 edge show that Mn²⁺ ions contribute to the ferromagnetism. NEXAFS spectra measured at O K edge show a strong hybridization between Mn, Ti 3d and O 2p orbitals. NEXAFS spectra measured at Mn and Ti L_3,2 edge show that Mn exist in +2 valence state, whereas, Ti is in +4 state in Mn doped TiO₂ films.     

菱铁矿FeCO3高压相变与性质的第一性原理研究

采用平面波赝势方法对菱铁矿FeCO₃高压下的晶体结构, 电子构型和电子结构进行了第一性原理计算研究. 研究过程中考虑了菱铁矿FeCO₃真实的反铁磁(AFM) 自旋有序态, 模拟静水压环境, 从零压逐步加压到500 GPa. 在40---50 GPa压力范围内, FeCO₃发生了从高自旋(HS) AFM态到低自旋(LS) 非磁性(NM) 态的磁性相变, 伴随着晶胞体积坍塌10.5%. FeCO₃在相变前后均是绝缘体, 但是相变后的LS-NM态的Fe²⁺ 离子的3d电子局域化程度更强, 能隙随着压力的进一步增大而逐步增大, 离化程度更高, 直到500 GPa没有发生金属绝缘体相变.     

First-principles study of ferromagnetism in Zn- and Cd-doped SnO2

The electronic structures and magnetic properties of Zn- and Cd-doped SnO₂ are investigated using first-principles calculations within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA+U scheme. The substitutional Zn and Cd atoms introduce holes in the 2p orbitals of the O atoms and the introduced holes are mostly confined to the minority-spin states. The magnetic moment induced by doping mainly comes from the 2p orbitals of the O atoms, among which the moment of the first neighboring O atoms around the dopant are the biggest. The U correction for the anion-2p states obviously increases the moment of the first neighboring O atoms and transforms the ground states of the doped SnO₂ from half-metallic to insulating. The magnetic coupling between the moments induced by two dopants is ferromagnetic and the origin of ferromagnetic coupling can be attributed to the p–d hybridization interaction involving holes.     

Magnetic properties of Nd0.9Dy0.1Fe3(BO3)4

The magnetic properties of trigonal Nd_0.9Dy_0.1Fe₃(BO₃)₄ substituted compound with the competitive Nd-Fe and Dy-Fe exchange interactions have been investigated. It has been shown that in Nd_0.9Dy_0.1Fe₃(BO₃)₄ a spontaneous spin-reorientation transition from an ease-axis state to an easy-plane occurs near 8 K. Anomalies of the magnetization curves are observed in a spin-flop transition induced by the magnetic field B‖c. The calculations were performed using a molecular-field approximation and a crystal-field model for the rare-earth subsystem. Extensive experimental data on the magnetic properties of Nd_0.9Dy_0.1Fe₃(BO₃)₄ have been interpreted and good agreement between theory and experiment has been achieved using the obtained theoretical dependences.     

The photoemission study of NdNiO3/NdGaO3 thin films, through the metal-insulator transition

The electronic structure of thin films NdNiO₃/NdGaO₃ with various thicknesses (from 17 nm to 150 nm), have been studied by photoemission spectroscopy at 300 K and 169 K. The XPS results are consistent with the literature ab initio calculations of the NdNiO₃ electronic structure. A noticeable variation attributed to the metal-insulator (MI) transition has been found only for the films with relatively high thickness (150 nm). Furthermore, the photoemission spectra and their temperature dependence have been discussed with regard to the results of dc electrical resistivity measurements which also exhibit large thickness dependence. Finally, these new results support a possible large hetero-epitaxial effect on the thinnest sample (17 nm) which could stress the NdNiO₃ structure and consequently makes its electronic structure nearly stabilized.     

Antiferromagnetism of perovskite EuZrO3 from a first-principles study

Electronic structure and magnetic properties of perovskite EuZrO₃ have been investigated using the ab initio density-functional calculations with local spin density approximation (LSDA) and LSDA+U methods. The results that are obtained reveal that the antiferromagnetic G-type arrangement is more stable than other possible configurations. The ground G-AFM state shows the insulator property with an energy gap of about 0.27 eV at U=0 eV. It is found that the energy gap strongly depends on the correction potential parameter of U due to the strong interaction of the f electrons of Eu in EuZrO₃. The spin magnetic moment of Eu ions is predited to be 6.82μ_B, which is in well agreement with the experimental result of 6.87μ_B.     

三明治结构Tan(B3N3H6)n+1 团簇的磁性和量子输运性质

利用密度泛函理论和非平衡格林函数方法, 本文对小尺寸团簇Ta_n(B₃N₃H₆)_n+1 (n ≤ 4)的磁性和量子输运性质进行了系统的研究. 计算结果表明, 此类体系采用三明治结构作为其基态并且具有较高的稳定性. 体系的磁矩随团簇尺寸的增大而线性增大. 当把Ta_n(B₃N₃H₆)_n+1团簇耦合到Au电极上时, 形成的Au-Ta_n(B₃N₃H₆)_n+1-Au体系在有限偏压下展示出了较强的自旋过滤能力, 因而可以被看做是一类新型的低维自旋过滤器.     

Glassy-ferromagnetic behavior in Eu0.5Sr0.5CoO3

Polycrystalline perovskite cobalt oxide Eu_0.5Sr_0.5CoO₃ was prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method. X-ray powder patterns indicated the prepared samples are pure, cubic perovskite structure (Pm3?m), and with no evidence of any secondary phases. The dc magnetization and ac susceptibility measurements were carried out to investigate the magnetic properties of the sample, and which indicated that cluster-glasses properties are suppressed with the increasing of the coercive field. We denied the possibility of spin-glasses and the existence of the Hopkinson effect in Eu_0.5Sr_0.5CoO₃ through the temperature-dependent ac susceptibility measurements, and explained the magnetic behavior of Eu_0.5Sr_0.5CoO₃ with the competition between magnetic anisotropy and the external magnetic field.     

Ferromagnetism in epitaxial orthorhombic YMnO3 thin films

Epitaxial orthorhombic YMnO₃ thin films, (0 0 1) oriented, have been grown by pulsed laser deposition on (0 0 1)SrTiO₃ substrates. Their crystal structure and magnetic response have been studied in detail. Although bulk o-YMnO₃ is antiferromagnetic, our magnetic measurements reveal intriguing thermal hysteresis between the zero-field-cooled and field-cooled curves below the onset of the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature, thus signaling a more complex magnetic structure with net ferromagnetic moments. We discuss on the possible origin of this net magnetization and we have found a correlation of the magnetic response with the strain state of the films. We propose that substrate-induced strain modifies the subtle competition of magnetic interactions and leads to a non-collinear magnetic state that can thus be tuned by strain engineering.     

Neutron powder diffraction and magnetic studies of mesoporous Co3O4

Samples of mesoporous Co₃O₄, created by using mesoporous silicas KIT-6 and SBA-16 as hard templates to control the growth of Co₃O₄ have been investigated with SQUID magnetometry and neutron powder diffraction, to reveal the effects of high surface area on the magnetic and electronic properties. DC magnetic susceptibility measurements show lower Néel ordering temperatures and lower magnetic moments than in a “bulk” reference. A lower second transition temperature is also observed in the mesoporous samples, associated with the freezing of the surface (shell) magnetic moments. Measurements taken with increasing applied field at constant temperature show the materials to be antiferromagnetic as expected. Complementary parametric neutron powder diffraction studies show similar trends between the two mesoporous samples when looking at their Néel temperatures, and verify long range order within the samples.     

Simulation of coexisting ferromagnetic order and disorder of geometrically frustrated Co2Cl(OH)3

The ground state and phase transition of Co₂Cl(OH)₃ were investigated by Monte Carlo simulation. This compound is a magnet, with a pyrochlore structure distorted along one axis. The magnetic structure at low temperatures consists of coexisting ferromagnetism and random spin, according to experiments. However, the formation mechanism of the coexistence and the interaction between the spins were unclear. We assumed an anisotropic Ising model and examined the ground state by multicanonical Monte Carlo simulation. In a nearest neighbor model, the ground states were highly degenerated. Almost all of the states were spin glass states, but a few of the states were ferromagnetic. The latter magnetic states were ferromagnetic at triangular layers and two in-one out random state at Kagome layers. The latter states should be stabilized if weak ferromagnetic interactions exist between second nearest neighbor spins and correspond to the states reported by the experiments. This expectation was confirmed by simulation.     

Luminescent properties of Dy doped SrMoO4 phosphor

Trivalent dysprosium ions (Dy³⁺) doped strontium molybdate (SrMoO₄) phosphors were synthesized by solid-state reaction and their photoluminescence (PL) properties were investigated. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the formation of SrMoO₄:Dy³⁺. PL measurements indicated that the phosphor exhibited intense emission at 482, 490 (⁴F_9/2→⁶H_15/2) and 575 nm (⁴F_9/2→⁶H_13/2) under UV excitation. The effect of the doping concentration of Dy³⁺in SrMoO₄:Dy³⁺ on the PL was investigated in detail. Na⁺ ion was a good charge compensator for SrMoO₄:Dy³⁺.     

Electronic and magnetic properties of NdCrSb3: A first principles study

The electronic and magnetic properties of NdCrSb₃ are calculated by the first principles full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method based on the density functional theory (DFT). Density of states (DOS), magnetic moments and band structures of the system are presented. For the exchange and correlation energy, local spin density approximation (LSDA+U) with the inclusion of Hubbard potential U is used. Our calculation shows that the 3d state electron of Cr and 4f state electrons of Nd contribute to the total DOS and the band structures. The effective magnetic moment is found to be 5.77μ_B, which is comparable to the earlier experimental results of NdCrSb₃.     

海藻酸改性的空心Fe3O4纳米颗粒的制备与应用

不使用任何模板一步制得空心Fe₃O₄纳米颗粒,然后将海藻酸钠嫁接在氨基化的空心Fe₃O₄表面,再利用海藻酸盐与钙离子的作用,在空心Fe₃O₄表面形成一个凝胶化层,制得海藻酸盐凝胶化的空心Fe₃O₄纳米颗粒,粒径约为400～500 nm．采用TEM、XRD、XPS、VSM等手段对纳米微球进行表征．VSM表征结果表明在室温下样品磁性材料为超顺磁性．改性Fe₃O₄纳米颗粒成功地用于柔红霉素的载负和缓释,最大载负率和载药量分别为28.4%和14.2%．缓释结果表明,海藻酸盐凝胶化层的存在,能更有效控制柔红霉素缓慢地释放．     

Magnetic characterization of Mn5SiB2 and Mn5Si3 phases

In this work the Mn₅Si₃ and Mn₅SiB₂ phases were produced via arc melting and heat treatment at 1000 °C for 50 h under argon. A detailed microstructure characterization indicated the formation of single-phase Mn₅Si₃ and near single-phase Mn₅SiB₂ microstructures. The magnetic behavior of the Mn₅Si₃ phase was investigated and the results are in agreement with previous data from the literature, which indicates the existence of two anti-ferromagnetic structures for temperatures below 98 K. The Mn₅SiB₂ phase shows a ferromagnetic behavior presenting a saturation magnetization M_s of about 5.35×10⁵ A/m (0.67 T) at room temperature and an estimated Curie temperature between 470 and 490 K. In addition, AC susceptibility data indicates no evidence of any other magnetic ordering in 4-300 K temperature range. The magnetization values are smaller than that calculated using the magnetic moment from previous literature NMR results. This result suggests a probable ferrimagnetic arrangement of the Mn moments.     

Enhanced luminescence of Dy in Y3Al5O12 by Bi co-doping

In the present paper, phosphors with the composition Y_3−x−yAl₅O₁₂:Bi³⁺_x, Dy³⁺_y were synthesized with solid state reactions. The luminescence properties of Bi³⁺ and Dy³⁺ in Y₃Al₅O₁₂(YAG) and the energy transfer from Bi³⁺ to Dy³⁺ were investigated in detail. Bi³⁺ in YAG emits one broad band peaking at 304 nm which can be ascribed to the transition from excited states ³P_{0, 1} to ground state ¹S₀. Dy³⁺ in YAG emits two groups of peaks around 484 and 583 nm, respectively, which can be ascribed to the transitions from excited state ⁴F_9/2 to ground states ⁶H_15/2 and ⁶H_13/2. The co-doping of Bi³⁺ enhances the luminescent intensity of Dy³⁺ by ∼7 times because Bi³⁺ can transfer the absorbed energy to Dy³⁺ efficiently. The mechanism of energy transfer was also discussed.     

The effect of Si surface nitridation on the interfacial structure and electrical properties of (La2O3)0.5(SiO2)0.5 high-k gate dielectric films

Thermal stability, interfacial structures and electrical properties of amorphous (La₂O₃)_0.5(SiO₂)_0.5 (LSO) films deposited by using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on Si (1 0 0) and NH₃ nitrided Si (1 0 0) substrates were comparatively investigated. The LSO films keep the amorphous state up to a high annealing temperature of 900 °C. HRTEM observations and XPS analyses showed that the surface nitridation of silicon wafer using NH₃ can result in the formation of the passivation layer, which effectively suppresses the excessive growth of the interfacial layer between LSO film and silicon wafer after high-temperature annealing process. The Pt/LSO/nitrided Si capacitors annealed at high temperature exhibit smaller CET and EOT, a less flatband voltage shift, a negligible hysteresis loop, a smaller equivalent dielectric charge density, and a much lower gate leakage current density as compared with that of the Pt/LSO/Si capacitors without Si surface nitridation.     

Structural, optical and magnetic properties of Nd-doped BiFeO3 thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Nd-doped BiFeO₃ thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on quartz substrate and their structural, optical and magnetic properties have been studied. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that Nd addition caused structural distortion even with 5% of Nd concentration, additional secondary phase appeared in all samples but its intensity was greatly reduced with Nd addition. Doping-induced variations in texture and structure modifying both magnetic and optical properties of BiFeO₃ thin films. The energy band gap decreases while the refractive index increases with addition of Nd³⁺ in BiFeO₃ for Bi³⁺. These variations in energy band gap and refractive index have been explained on the basis of density of states and increase in disorders in the system. All the samples were found to exhibit ferromagnetism at room temperature and the saturation magnetization increases with the increase in structural distortion with addition of Nd. Finally, Nd-doping modifies the physical properties of BiFeO₃ in comparison to undoped BiFeO₃ thin films.     

Magnetic properties of Ni-substituted BiFeO3

BiFe_1−xNi_xO₃ ceramic powders with x up to 0.10 have been prepared by the sol-gel technique. The band gap of BiFeO₃ is 2.23 eV, and decreases to 2.09 eV for BiFe_0.95Ni_0.05O₃ and BiFe_0.90Ni_0.10O₃. The Mössbauer spectra show sextet at room temperature, indicating the magnetic ordering and the presence of only Fe³⁺ ions. Superparamagnetism with blocking temperature of 31 K for BiFe_0.95Ni_0.05O₃ and 100 K for BiFe_0.90Ni_0.10O₃ was observed. Enhanced magnetization at room temperature have been observed (1.0 emu/g for BiFe_0.95Ni_0.05O₃ and 2.9 emu/g for BiFe_0.90Ni_0.10O₃ under magnetic field of 10,000 Oe), which is one order larger than that of BiFeO₃ (0.1 emu/g under magnetic field of 10,000 Oe). The enhanced magnetization was attributed to the suppression of the cycloidal spin structure by Ni³⁺ substitution and the ferrimagnetic interaction between Fe³⁺ and Ni³⁺ ions.     

Electrical current influence on resistance and localization length of a Co-Al2O3 granular thin film

Electrical, magnetic and magnetotransport properties were measured in a Co-Al₂O₃ granular film. Electrical resistance was obtained in the low-field regime (e ΔV?k_BT) under variation of injected current and bias and as a function of temperature and bias. Electrical properties were best described with the model of variable range hopping, where the electrical resistance decreases and the electronic localization length increases with increase of the applied bias and/or current. We associate this behavior to the activation of new electronic paths between more distant grains, reducing the total resistance whilst additional parallel paths are formed. This behavior is similar to results obtained with Fe-Al₂O₃ granular thin films, which however have a higher range of resistance variation.