Transparency and room temperature ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic polycrystalline Zn1−xCrxTe non-oxide II-VI semiconductor compounds

Abstract

Polycrystalline Zn1−xCrxTe samples for x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.18, and 0.20 were synthesized by solid-state reaction, and their physical properties were studied for the purpose of identifying a novel non-oxide transparent diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS). Their transport properties exhibit semiconducting behavior for low Cr concentrations and become conductors for higher Cr concentration concentrations. Ferromagnetic behavior was observed in Cr-doped ZnTe with Curie temperature Tc increasing as Cr concentration increases. At x = 0.20 Cr concentration, the system has Tc above room temperature, indicating an interesting II-VI ferromagnetic semiconductor. Furthermore, optical transparency in the visible light range was found to be 30–85 % for different Cr concentration concentrations. Also, according to the electrical transport measurement data in this study, the resistivity doesn’t exhibit any significant change as the temperature increases for x = 0.20. This consistent resistivity exhibits a possible candidacy for further studies of the sample Zn0.80Cr0.20Te for half-metallic ferromagnetic properties.