Valence excitations and dopant distribution of Al doped ZnO nanowires analyzed by electron energy loss spectroscopy.

Valence electron energy loss spectroscopy (VEELS) with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) has been employed to probe the valence excitations and dopant distribution of Al doped ZnO nanowires. The results reveal that while the typical Al concentration is on the order of 1020 1/cm3, Al tends to segregate at the surface leading to an Al-rich sheath. In VEEL spectra, O-2p, Zn-3d, Al-3p, O-2s, interband transitions as well as bulk plasmon have been identified. The bulk plasmon peak is blue-shifted, and the projected interband transition decreases from 2.14 to 1.88 eV as the doping concentration increases from 0.83 x 10(20) to 2.18 x 10(20) 1/cm3.

Electrical control of memristance and magnetoresistance in oxide magnetic tunnel junctions.

Electric-field control of magnetic and transport properties of magnetic tunnel junctions has promising applications in spintronics. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a reversible electrical manipulation of memristance, magnetoresistance, and exchange bias in Co/CoO-ZnO/Co magnetic tunnel junctions, which enables the realization of four nonvolatile resistance states. Moreover, greatly enhanced tunneling magnetoresistance of 68% was observed due to the enhanced spin polarization of the bottom Co/CoO interface. The ab initio calculations further indicate that the spin polarization of the Co/CoO interface is as high as 73% near the Fermi level and plenty of oxygen vacancies can induce metal-insulator transition of the CoO(1-v) layer. Thus, the electrical manipulation mechanism on the memristance, magnetoresistance and exchange bias can be attributed to the electric-field-driven migration of oxygen ions/vacancies between very thin CoO and ZnO layers.

Structural and electronic properties of Eu- and Pd-doped ZnO.

Doping ZnO with rare earth and 4d transition elements is a popular technique to manipulate the optical properties of ZnO systems. These systems may also possess intrinsic ferromagnetism due to their magnetic moment borne on 4f and 4d electrons. In this work, the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of Eu- and Pd-doped ZnO were investigated by the ab initio density functional theory methods based on generalized gradient approximation. The relative stability of incorporation sites of the doped elements in the ZnO host lattice was studied. The ground state properties, equilibrium bond lengths, and band structures of both the ZnO:Eu and ZnO:Pd systems were also investigated. The total and partial densities of electron states were also determined for both systems. It was found that in the ZnO:Eu system, ambient ferromagnetism can be induced by introducing Zn interstitial which leads to a carrier-mediated ferromagnetism while the ZnO:Pd system possesses no ferromagnetism.PACS 31.15.E-, 75.50.Pp, 75.30Hx.