Room temperature ferromagnetism in Zn-Mn-O

Zn-Mn-O semiconductor crystallites with nominal manganese concentration x=0.01, 0.04 and 0.10 were synthesized by a solid state reaction method using oxalate precursors. A sintering procedure was carried out in air at 500 and 900  ^°C. The samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction, magnetization measurements and electron paramagnetic resonance. X-ray diffraction spectra reveal that the dominant crystal phase in the Zn-Mn-O system corresponds to the wurtzite structure of ZnO. Room temperature ferromagnetism is observed in Zn-Mn-O samples with manganese concentrations x=0.01 and 0.04 sintered at low temperature (500  ^°C). Saturation magnetization in the x=0.01 sample is found to be at . The ferromagnetic phase seems to be developed by Zn diffusion into Mn-oxide grains.