Nitrogen-vacancy-induced magnetism in AlN was investigated both theoretically and experimentally. First-principles calculations reveal that magnetic coupling between the vacancy-induced moments varies with the vacancy concentration. A sizable ferromagnetic coupling for nitrogen vacancies was found. Experimentally, the magnetism manipulation was realized accordingly by introducing vacancies through varying the nitrogen atmosphere in AlN whiskers. The vacancy control may be applicable to other III-V nitride semiconductors in tuning their magnetism.

Adjustable Nitrogen-Vacancy Induced Magnetism in AlN. Y.Liu, L.Jiang, G.Wang, S.Zuo, W.Wang, X.Chen: Applied Physics Letters, 2012, 100[12], 122401