Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism in Carbon-Doped ZnO

We report ferromagnetism in carbon-doped ZnO. Our first-principles calculations based on density functional theory predicted a magnetic moment of 2.02μ_B per carbon when carbon substitutes oxygen in ZnO, and an ferromagnetic coupling among magnetic moments of the carbon dopants. The theoretical prediction was confirmed experimentally. C-doped ZnO films deposited by pulsed-laser deposition showed ferromagnetism with Curie temperatures higher than 400 K. The measured magnetic moment based on the content of carbide in the films [(1.5 3.0)μ_B per carbon] was in agreement with the theoretical prediction. The magnetism is due to the Zn-C system in the ZnO environment.