Abstract
In this paper, structural, surface morphology, and magnetic properties of transition metal (TM = Ni) doped SnO2 thin films (TFs) have been reported. Thin films of Ni doped SnO2 were deposited on LaAlO3 (100) substrate using pulsed laser deposition method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed that all the films have a single phase with the tetragonal rutile structure. The multiple peaks observed in the XRD pattern clearly show the polycrystalline nature of the films and textured along (101) orientation. The average surface roughness (Ra) and root mean square roughness (Rq) measured using AFM micrographs was found to increase initially from 4.96 nm to 11.2 nm and 6.14 nm–14.0 nm until 5% Ni doping and then finally Ra and Rq decreases to 2.87 nm 3.69 nm respectively for 20% Ni-doped SnO2 films, respectively. The dc magnetization measurements indicate that all films display room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM). The saturation magnetization calculated using M − H loops was found to increase from 1.4 emu/cm3 to 7 emu/cm3 for 20% Ni doped SnO2. The RTFM observed in Ni-doped SnO2 films has been explained based on the bound magnetic polaron model.
•Pure and Ni doped SnO2 thin films have been deposited on LAO (100) using Pulsed laser deposition technique.•XRD analysis confirms the single-phase tetragonal rutile structure of the films.•Granular pyramidal like morphology of all the films revealed by AFM analysis.•Magnetization analysis revealed the RTFM behavior of the films.•BMP model associates the ferromagnetic ordering to the formation of oxygen vacancies.