Room-temperature ferromagnetism has been reported in silicon carbide (SiC) powder, epilayer and single crystal [1,2,3]. However, the ferromagnetic mechanism of this kind of diluted magnetic materials is still controversial. In this paper, we focus on the relationship of ferromagnetism and  crystalline quality of vanadium (V) doped 6H-SiC single crystals. It is found that the defect-rich sample shows stronger ferromagnetism. The V-doped 6H-SiC single crystals, with dopant ranging from 0 to 6.14×10¹⁷ at./cm³ (labeled as sample I, II and III), were prepared by physical vapor transport technique. The 6H-SiC without V doping shows a diamagnetic behavior, while clear ferromagnetism is observed in V- doped 6H-SiC single crystals, as shown in Figure 1.It can be seen that the 6H-SiC single crystal with a lower V dopant exhibits a larger magnetization saturation. However, in-depth structural characterizations by optical microscope, high-resolution X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscope indicate a poor crystalline quality of sample II (Figure 2). These results imply that both V dopant and defects are essential in inducing ferromagnetism of 6H-SiC, and the ferromagnetism can be enhanced by defects in poor crystalline quality single crystal.

Figure 1. Room-temperature M-H curves of sample I, II and III. The inset shows M-T curve of sample II.

Figure 2. The mapping review of Raman peak intensity for sample I, II, and III.

[1] Hui Wang, Chen-Feng Yan, Hai-Kuan Kong, Jian-jun Chen, Jun Xin, and Er-Wei Shi, Investigation of room temperature ferromagnetism of 3C-SiC by vanadium carbide doping, Appl. Phys. Lett., 101 (2012) 142404.
[2] K. Bouziane, M. Mamor, Ph. Djemia and S.M. Cherif, Defects and magnetic properties in Mn-implanted 3C-SiC epilayer on Si(100): Experiments and first-principles calculations, Phys. Rev. B, 78 (2008) 195305.
[3] Zhuo Shi-Yi, Liu Xue-Chao, Xiong Ze, Yan Wen-Sheng, Xin Jun, Yang Jian-Hua, and Shi Er-Wei, Defects mediated ferromagnetism in V-doped 6H-SiC single crystal, Chin. Phys. B, 21 (2012) 067503.

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