Investigating the Role of Rare-earth Gd Doping in Zinc Oxide for Potential in Spintronics

Abstract Thin films of Gd-doped ZnO with high transparency were prepared using sol-gel derived precursor. In this paper, Gd-doped ZnO films were formed on glass substrates at different Gd concentrations ranging from 0 to 10 at.%. XRD analysis revealed that higher Gd concentration led to an increase in the FWHM value and decrease in crystallinity. Nevertheless, there were no new peaks found that were linked to the development of secondary phases. FESEM revealed changes in surface morphology upon increase in Gd concentration. The MFM measurements observed magnetic signal for thin films doped with Gd, showed by bright-dark contrast of the MFM images. The magnetic properties by VSM discovered that Gd doping generated magnetic behavior with good hysteresis curve and high saturation magnetization observed at 8 at.% of Gd. Overall results indicate that Gd concentration gives significant changes to the properties of the thin films, with 8 at.% of Gd as optimal thin film potential for spintronics applications.

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