Post-Annealing Effect On The Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism In Cu-Doped Zno Thin Films

In this work, we investigated the structural and magnetic properties of both as-deposited and post-annealed Cu-doped ZnO thin films for better understanding the possible mechanisms of room-temperature ferromagnetism (RT-FM) in ZnO-based diluted magnetic oxides. All of the films have a c-axis-oriented wurtzite structure and display RT-FM. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed that the incorporated Cu ions in as-deposited films are in 1+ valence state merely, while an additional 2+ valence state occurs in post-annealed films. The presence of Cu2+ state in post-annealed film accompanies a higher magnetization value than that of as-deposited film and, in particular, the magnetization curves at 10K and 300K of the post-annealed film separate distinctly. Since Cu1+ ion has a filled 3d band, the RT-FM in as-deposited Cu-doped ZnO thin films may stem solely from intrinsic defects, while that in post-annealed films is enhanced due to the presence of CuO crystallites. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.