Understanding electronic and magnetic transitions in ball milled diluted magnetic semiconductor Si1-xNix through experimental electron density distribution

Abstract

The diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) Si1-xNix with four different dopant concentrations x = 0, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09 and 0.12 has been processed using ball milling technique. Powder X – ray diffraction data sets were collected for the samples and the structural and charge density analysis were carried out using Rietveld technique and maximum entropy method (MEM) respectively. The local structure was analyzed using pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. Magnetic measurements taken using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) reveal the ferromagnetic nature of the prepared DMS samples. Experimental estimation of charge density using maximum entropy method (MEM) complements semiconductor to metal transition and p – n type transition of Si1-xNix system as a function of concentration of Ni impurity in the system. The utility of Si1-xNix as a DMS material is established from these studies.