Structural and magneto optical studies of transition rare earth metal doped semiconductor metal oxides

Abstract

newline A wide class of semiconductor metal oxides (SMO) can be tailored by substituting a fraction of magnetic impurities. The introduction of impurity atoms into semiconducting materials is the primary method for controlling the properties of the SMO, such as bandgap, electrical conductivity, etc. SMO doped with transition metals (TM) or rare-earth metals (RM) is currently generating much research interest, due to their novel magneto-optical properties. These semiconductors are commonly called dilute magnetic semiconductors and are envisioned as potential building blocks for spintronic devices.[1] newlineZinc oxide (ZnO) is the utmost actively studied semiconductor material with a wide bandgap range of 3.37 eV, also because of its unique optical and electronic behavior which in turns makes it a popular choice for a variety of optoelectronic and phosphor-based devices, logistic fuel cells, chemical sensors, ultraviolet photo-detectors, etc.[2] newlineTitania (TiO2) is most preferred owing to its applications as photo-electrode due to high photo-corrosion resistance in aqueous media, solar cells, optical filtering applications, and potent antimicrobial coatings, etc. [3] Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a wide band-gap (3.2 eV) semiconductor with a large surface area which makes it best suited for optical, electrical, photochemical, photophysical, optoelectronics, quantum computing, photocatalysis, and luminescent labeling applications.[4, 5] newlineCr2O3 is an inorganic compound with the chemical name Chromic oxide. It is also called Dichromium trioxide, or Chromium (3+) oxide, or Chromium (III) oxide. It naturally occurs in a mineral eskolaite, which is mostly found in chromium-rich skarns, tremolite, chlorite veins, and meta quartzites. Chromium (III) oxide appears as a fine light to dark green, hexagonal crystals. It is amphoteric and insoluble in water. The exact mass and the monoisotopic mass of Chromium (3+) oxide is 151.866 g/mol. The number of hydrogen bond acceptors equals three and the number of hydrogen bond donors equal