Magnetic Properties of Vanadium-Doped Silicon Carbide Nanowires

This study reports the magnetic properties of vanadium (V) doped single crystalline silicon carbide nanowires. The first principle calculation indicated that the V-doped cubic SiC phase can exhibit half-metallic ferromagnetic properties that are essential for the realization of spintronic devices. Based on this calculation, V-doped SiC nanowires were fabricated in a chemical vapor deposition process. The single crystalline beta-SiC nanowires, which are doped with ca. 4 at.% of V, had diameters of < 100 mn and a length of several mu m. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations revealed vanadium carbide (VC) phases in the nanowires, even at this low concentration of dopants. Magnetic characterization implies that the nanowires are a mixture of the diamagnetic phase of VC and ferro- or paramagnetic phases of V-doped SiC. These results suggest that the doping of transition metal having high solubility to the SiC phase can lead to the realization of dilute magnetic semiconductor behavior at very low temperature.