Magnetic and spectroscopic characteristics of ZnMnO system

We report on the observation of room-temperature ferromagnetism in epitaxial (Zn,Mn)O films grown by a pulsed-laser deposition technique using high-density targets. The X-ray, microscopic, spectroscopic and magnetic properties of target material containing 6 at.% of Mn and films were compared. The target shows the presence of large clusters exhibiting paramagnetic behavior. However, ferromagnetic properties were observed in (Zn,Mn)O films grown at a substrate temperature of 500 degrees C and with an oxygen partial pressure of I mTorr. Although, crystalline quality of the film improves with increasing substrate temperature, the ferromagnetism becomes weaker. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.