Carbon p Electron Ferromagnetism in Silicon Carbide

TL;DR

This paper investigates the microscopic electronic origin of defect-induced ferromagnetism in silicon carbide, revealing that p electrons of neighboring carbon atoms around divacancies are responsible for the long-range magnetic coupling.

Contribution

It establishes a direct link between specific defects and ferromagnetism in SiC, highlighting the role of p electrons in the magnetic behavior.

Findings

Long-range ferromagnetic coupling is due to p electrons of neighboring carbon atoms.

Ferromagnetism originates from electronic effects of divacancies in SiC.

The study provides a microscopic understanding of defect-induced ferromagnetism.

Abstract

Ferromagnetism can occur in wide-band gap semiconductors as well as in carbon-based materials when specific defects are introduced. It is thus desirable to establish a direct relation between the defects and the resulting ferromagnetism. Here, we contribute to revealing the origin of defect-induced ferromagnetism using SiC as a prototypical example. We show that the long-range ferromagnetic coupling can be attributed to the p electrons of the nearest-neighbor carbon atoms around the VSiVC divacancies. Thus, the ferromagnetism is traced down to its microscopic, electronic origin.