Effects of V doping on magnetic and optical properties of oxygen-deficient In2O3 thin films

The scope of the work was to study structural, optical and magnetic behaviors of vanadium (V) doped indium oxide thin films prepared by thermal evaporation. Thin films of vanadium doped oxygen deficient In2O3 were deposited on sapphire, corning glass and Si(100) substrates. EDAX analysis revealed a great reduction in oxygen was happen during evaporation and oxygen deficient undoped and V doped In2O3 thin films were formed. XRD characterization suggested that the present In2O3 portion was in the amorphous state and the observed crystalline peaks were indexed as tetragonal metallic indium. The undoped In2O3 had the lowest transmittance and the transmittance increased with increasing V doping. The optical band gap and refractive index values decreased with increasing V doping. The dependence of magnetization on magnetic field for V doped In2O3 thin films were studied at 300 K and 5 K. All the samples exhibited soft ferromagnetic behaviour. The parameters of the hysteresis loop were extracted. The achieved results may find usage in magneto-optical applications.