Abstract

A series of Sn_1-xNi_xO₂ films were fabricated by sol-gel method. All samples have pure rutile structure and exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM). Magnetic moment per Ni ion decreases with the increase of Ni doping because antiferromagnetic super-exchange interaction takes place in the nearest neighbour Ni²⁺ ions for the samples with high x. The results of the annealing at oxidizing and reducing atmosphere show oxygen vacancies play a crucial role in producing ferromagnetism. This result supports that the origin of RTFM can be explained with Bound magnetic polaron (BMP) model.

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