A study on the magnetic properties of carbon-doped (1 1 2̄ 0) ZnO thin films

► In the paper, by using the first principle method based on density functional theory (DFT), a study on the electronic structure and the ferromagnetic stability in C-doped (1 1 2̄ 0) ZnO thin films was conducted. ► The results showed that C atoms in the thin films have FM stability for a majority of configurations. It was found that C defects have a tendency to form clusters. The FM coupling between C atoms is long-ranged. ► It was found that zinc vacancies can stabilize FM coupling of C-doped (1 1 2̄ 0) ZnO thin films. However, oxygen vacancies are unfavorable to FM coupling of the thin film. ► Because of the complexity of the hybridization and anisotropy of spin density distribution in space, the FM and conductive properties of the thin films can be tuned by lattice strain.