Room Temperature Ferromagnetism in Cu Doped ZnO Thin Films

We report on the growth of Cu doped ZnO thin films for different Cu concentration from 0.1%, to 10% by RF magnetron sputtering. The X-ray diffraction study has shown single phase wurtzite type ZnO thin films with no evidence of copper/copper oxide or any other secondary phases. Room temperature ferromagnetism was observed in RF sputtered Cu doped ZnO films with magnetic moment per Cu atom first increasing and then decreasing with an increasing Cu content. Decrease of band gap with Cu doping, indicating strong p-d mixing of O and Cu is clear by the absorption spectroscopy study. The surface morphology by AFM of pure and Cu doped ZnO thin films show average grain size of 110nm and RMS surface roughness of 2.15nm.