Effects of Ti content on the structural and the magnetic properties of ZnCrO:Ti (Cr: 1 at.%, Ti: 0-0.8 at.%) thin films

Abstract

We investigated the effects of the Ti content on the structural and the magnetic properties of ZnCrO:Ti thin films (Cr: 1.0 at.%, Ti: 0 - 0.8 at.%). The samples were prepared by co-sputtering of ZnCrO and Ti and showed the Ti solution limit to be similar to 0.3 at.%. When the Ti additives were doped with an appropriate concentration less than the solution limit, the magnetic properties of the films were improved due to the increased magnetic moments from Ti2+ ions (i.e., 3d(2)4s(0)). For the samples doped with large amounts of Ti dopants over the solution limit, however, the magnetization was gradually degraded due to the formation of metastable TiO2 and ZnCrTiO having no spins (i.e., 3(d)04s(0)).