Defects mediated ferromagnetism in a V-doped 6H–SiC single crystal

Undoped and V-doped 6H-SiC single crystals have been grown by the physical vapor transport method. The V concentration is determined to be 3.76 × 10¹⁷ at/cm³ and 6.14 × 10¹⁷ at/cm³ by secondary ion mass spectrometry for low V-doped and high V-doped SiC samples, respectively. The undoped 6H-SiC shows diamagnetism, while the V-doped 6H-SiC exhibits weak ferromagnetism. The lower V-doped sample shows stronger ferromagnetism compared to that of the higher V-doped sample. However, the structural characterization indicates that the lower V-doped SiC has a relative poor crystalline quality. It is found that both V dopants and defects are essential for introducing ferromagnetic exchange in V-doped SiC single crystals.