Ferromagnetism in Fe-doped SnO2 thin films

Thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition from targets of Sn0.95Fe0.05O2 are transparent ferromagnets with Curie temperature and spontaneous magnetization of 610 K and 2.2 A m2 kg−1, respectively. The Fe57 Mössbauer spectra show the iron is all high-spin Fe3+ but the films are magnetically inhomogeneous on an atomic scale, with only 23% of the iron ordering magnetically. The net ferromagnetic moment per ordered iron ion, 1.8 μB, is greater than for any simple iron oxide with superexchange interactions. Ferromagnetic coupling of ferric ions via an electron trapped in a bridging oxygen vacancy (F center) is proposed to explain the high Curie temperature.