Doping of Ga in antiferromagnetic semiconductor alpha-Cr2O3oxide and its effects on modified magnetic and electronic properties

TL;DR

This study investigates how Ga doping alters the magnetic and electronic properties of alpha-Cr2O3, revealing suppressed antiferromagnetism, emergent ferrimagnetism, and unique electronic behaviors like bi-stability and negative differential resistance.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of Ga doping on alpha-Cr2O3's magnetic and electronic properties, including the observation of novel electronic states and magnetic behavior modifications.

Findings

Suppressed AFM transition temperature at 320 K

Emergence of ferrimagnetic behavior below 350 K

Observation of bi-stable electronic states and NDR in Ga doped samples

Abstract

The samples of Ga doped Cr2O3 oxide have been prepared using chemical co-precipitation route. X-ray diffraction pattern and Raman spectra have confirmed rhombohedral crystal structure with space group R3-C. Magnetic measurement has indicated the dilution of antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin order in Ga doped alpha-Cr2O3 system oxide, where the AFM transition temperature of bulk alpha-Cr2O3 oxide at about 320 K has been suppressed and ferrimagnetic behavior is observed from the analysis of the temperature dependence of magnetization data below 350 K. Apart from Ga doping effect, the spin freezing (50 K-70 K) and superparamagnetic behavior of the surface spins at lower temperatures, typically below 50 K, have been exhibited due to nano-sized grains of the samples. All the samples showed non-linear current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. However, I-V characteristics of the Ga doped samples are remarkably different from alpha-Cr2O3 sample. The I-V curves of Ga doped samples have exhibited many unique electronic properties, e.g., bi-stable (low resistance- LR and high resistance-HR) electronic states and negative differential resistance (NDR). Optical absorption spectra revealed three electronic transitions in the samples associated with band gap energy at about 2.67-2.81 eV, 1.91-2.11 eV, 1.28-1.35 eV, respectively.