Room-temperature ferromagnetism with high magnetic moment in Cu-doped AlN single crystal whiskers

Ferromagnetism is investigated in high-quality Cu-doped AlN single crystal whiskers. The whiskers exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism with a magnetic moment close to the results from first-principles calculations. High crystallinity and low Cu concentrations are found to be indispensable for high magnetic moments. The difference between the experimental and theoretical moment values is explored in terms of the influence of nitrogen vacancies. The calculated results demonstrate that nitrogen vacancies can reduce the magnetic moments of Cu atom.