Abstract
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•Cobalt implanted films produced with Co2+ on Zn sites after annealing in air.•Eu implanted films contained only Eu3+ after annealing in air.•Substantial ferromagnetically coupled magnetic moments were found for both Co2+ and Eu3+ ions.•Co-doping with Co and Eu increased the magnetisation.
Films of ZnO have been implanted with fluxes of Co and Eu ions so as to give a layer of Zn0.96Co0.04O or Zn0.96Eu0.04O or Zn0.92Co0.04Eu0.04O that is approximately 15 nm thick. The ZnO films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition and had an O-polar surface. The properties of the as-implanted films were compared with those obtained after annealing in air and vacuum. The amount of radiation damage was measured using Raman scattering. Measurements of the lattice constants and EXAFS demonstrated that after annealing in air the Co2+ were on Zn sites in the lattice and Eu3+ ions were surrounded by oxygen ions. The air-annealed films were ferromagnetic and the magnetic moment of the ZnCoEuO was close to the sum of that from ZnCoO and ZnEuO. This method of producing ferromagnetic ZnCoO and ZnEuO films was competitive with other methods including pulsed laser deposition.