Vanadium:Silicon - an ion-beam generated diluted magnetic semiconductor? - Integration of Vanadium into the Silicon host crystal

The generation of dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) by ion-beam implantation of magnetic centres into semiconducting materials has experienced renewed interest since the generation of magnetic thin films from the Cobalt-doped wide-gap semiconductor TiO2. Since the magnitude of the magnetic moment in such films is strongly varying and since the implementation in a standard, Silicon-based semicon ductor device is challenging, we have concentrated on the binary and fully integrable system Vanadium:Silicon. At higher doping concentrations, Vanadium and Silicon form several binary compounds; the most well characterised structures have the compositions V:Si= 3:1, 5:3, 6:5, 1:2, and bear the potential to exhibit magnetism. At higher dilution, Vanadium may form point defects in the crystalline Silicon host matrix. Here, we investigate different combinations of substitutional and interstitial vanadium atoms in a silicon crystal matrix.