https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-30474-0
Regular Article
Enhance ferromagnetism by stabilizing the cation vacancies in GaN
1 Departments of Physics and
Electronics, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang
421008, P.R.
China
2 Department of Applied Physics, Hunan
University, Changsha
410082, P.R.
China
a
e-mail: lmtang@hnu.edu.cn
b
e-mail: llwang@hnu.edu.cn
c
e-mail: keqiuchen@hnu.edu.cn
Received:
14
June
2012
Received in final form:
20
December
2012
Published online:
24
June
2013
The magnetic properties related to cation vacancies in GaN are investigated by first-principles calculations. The results show that a neutral Ga-vacancy induces 3μB magnetic moment in GaN, but is difficult to form due to the high formation energy. It is found that the Ga-vacancy formation energy can be reduced by adding electrons with uniform compensating positive background charge, by nano-structure engineering, or by co-doping donor-like defects. The Ga-vacancy induced colossal magnetic moment in Gd-doped GaN can be modulated by co-doping the donor like defects. It is suggested that ferromagnetism enhanced by stabilizing the cation vacancies may be applied to other wide band-gap semiconductors as well.
Key words: Solid State and Materials
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag, 2013