Dopant-Induced Surface Magnetism in β-SiC Controlled by Dopant Depth

Abstract

First-principles calculation discloses local magnetism on the β-SiC (110) and (001) surfaces due to nonmetallic dopants. The spontaneously polarized β-SiC (111) surface without dopants also exhibits strong magnetism which can be reduced significantly by dopant incorporation. The magnetic values depend on the arrangement of superfluous p electrons and location of dopants. If the dopants reach the third and seventh layers, the dopant-induced magnetism on the (001) and (110) surfaces disappears and the nonmagnetic bulk behavior is reverted. Our results suggest that surface magnetism can be tailored by facet engineering and dopant incorporation.

Defect-induced magnetism in SiC

“…In [52,67], the authors speculated that the ferromagnetic coupling can occur locally in some regions with proper defect concentration. For 3C-SiC, Liu et al disclosed that local magnetism is only on the (1 1 0) and (0 0 1) surfaces [104]. Esmaeily et al measured the magnetic properties of nanoporous alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) membranes [105].…”

Electronic structure and magnetic properties of (Cu, N)-codoped 3C-SiC studied by first-principles calculations

“…In fact, Lin et al [8] have explored the magnetic properties of Al doped 4H-SiC by the first-principles calculation. Liu et al [9] revealed that local surface magnetism can be induced in SiC by nonmetal dopants, and the magnetism diminishes gradually and finally disappears with doping depth. Both theoretical and experimental reports [10][11][12] have revealed that irradiation can in-duce magnetism in SiC.…”

Room-temperature ferromagnetism of 2H-SiC-α-Al2O3solid solution nanowires and the physical origin

“…[22][23][24][25] Previously, our group and others have done a lot of work on 1D SiC nanostructures and related 1D heterostructural design, with the aim to create novel configurations that can be competent to be used in single nanowirebased electronic devices with advanced functionality. 23,[26][27][28][29][30] However, although SiC with TM doping and rich intrinsic defects was reported to exhibit ferromagnetism, [31][32][33] few studies have considered integrating the spin feature to 1D semiconductor SiC, although a number of similar studies about ZnO has been reported. Actually, SiC based DMS is more effective to be utilized in the next-generation integrated circuits compared with other species, when the device compatibility and advanced electrical performance were considered significantly.…”