Effect of annealing atmosphere on ferromagnetism in Mn doped ZnO films

This paper reports that Zn_0.97Mn_0.03O thin films have been prepared by radio-frequency sputtering technology followed by rapid thermal processing in nitrogen and oxygen ambient respectively. Magnetic property investigation indicates that the films are ferromagnetic and that the Curie temperature (T_c) is over room temperature. It is observed that the saturation magnetization of the films increases after annealing in nitrogen ambience but decreases after annealing in oxygen. Room temperature photoluminescence spectra indicate that the amount of defects in the films differs after annealing in the different ambiences. This suggests that the ferromagnetism in Zn_0.97Mn_0.03O films is strongly related to the defects in the films.