Valence state, lattice incorporation, and resulting magnetic properties of Ni in Zn/Co-based magnetic oxides
Sprache des Titels:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
Ni incorporation has been studied in a comprehensive range of Zn/Co-based magnetic oxides to elucidate its valence state and lattice incor-
poration. The resulting structural and magnetic properties of a range of related types of samples are studied in detail. On the one hand, Ni
doping is studied in wurtzite ZnO which is either done by in-diffusion of the Ni into bulk ZnO or by reactive magnetron sputtering for Ni-
doped thin films of ZnO. The latter is complemented by Ni and Co codoping of ZnO leading to altered magnetic properties which are then
dominated by Co. On the other hand, the ZnCo2 O 4 spinel is codoped with varying amounts of Ni. In the wurtzite oxides, Ni is exclusively
found on tetrahedral lattice sites in its formal 2+ oxidation state as deep donor. It behaves as an anisotropic paramagnet, and a limited solu-
bility of Ni below 10% is found. Furthermore, the partial compensation of the antiferromagnetically coupled Co magnetic moments is
induced by the Ni due to its smaller magnetic moment. In the ZnCo 2 O4 spinel, Ni is found to be incorporated in its formal 3+ oxidation
state on octahedral sites and also couples antiferromagnetically to the Co moments. At low Ni concentrations, this leads to a lifting of the
partial magnetic compensation of the antiferromagnetic ZnCo2 O 4 spinel and to ferrimagnetism at higher Ni concentrations. Increasing the
Ni concentration even further leads to phase separation of cubic NiO resulting in a structurally less defined, exchange-biased composite
magnetic oxide.