Study of Sm-doped ZnO samples sintered in a nitrogen atmosphere and deposited on n-Si(1Â 0Â 0) by evaporation technique

▸ Sintering in the atmosphere of N2, reveals a highly hole concentration p-type ZnO. ▸ The X-ray diffraction patterns confirm that dominant phases are wurtzite in all the samples. ▸ Lattice parameters c and a show variation by increasing the substitution level of samarium (Sm). ▸ Hysteresis loops for x=0.05 film are clearly indicating low coercivity, revealing a ferromagnetic behavior. ▸ SEM micrographs indicate the presence of well defined hexagonal like grains.