Preparation of Fe-doped ZnO ferromagnetic semiconductor by sol-gel method with hydrogen treatment

Zn/sub 1-x/Fe/sub x/O (x=0.00,0.01,0.03,0.05,0.07, and 0.10) compounds were fabricated by the sol-gel method. The crystal structure and magnetic properties were investigated as a function of doped Fe concentration. Specifically, we have used hydrogen treatment for the control of phase separation. The X-ray diffraction patterns show that the wurzite structure of ZnO does not change for the doping range below x=0.07. Furthermore, we could not find any Fe cluster or phase separation in the X-ray diffraction patterns. The Fe-doped ZnO indicate ferromagnetic behaviors with the Curie temperature higher than room temperature. Then, the magnetic moment per Fe atom increased with increasing Fe concentration.