Room temperature ferromagnetism of Fe-doped In2O3 nanodot arrays fabricated by porous anodized aluminum templates

摘要

The oxide-based diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) with Curie temperatures, T, at or above room temperature (RT) have attracted great interest due to their potential applications in spintronic devices. Among them, the Fe-doped InO DMS has attracted considerable interest because of the high solubility of Fe in the InO matrix, excellent electrical conductivity, and high optical transparency. In the past decades, many research activities have been focused on the bulk and thin films of Fe-doped InO. However, due to the advantages of their small size, low-dimensional characteristics and unique magnetic properties, magnetic semiconductor nanodot arrays provide a promising way to apply spin-dependent functions to semiconductor microelectronics and nanotechnology. With this motivation, here we present the first study of growing Fe-doped InO nanodot arrays on AlO (0001) substrates using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) with the aid of porous anodized aluminum (PAA) templates, and provide the insights into the origin of the RT ferromagnetism in Fe-doped InO nanodot arrays by a comprehensive analysis of structure, morphology and magnetic properties of the arrays.