Electronic structure and chemical and magnetic interactions in ZnO doped with Co and Al: Experiments and ab initio density-functional calculations

We present results of electronic structure and magnetization measurements of Co:ZnO and Co:ZnO codoped with Al thin-film samples fabricated by solution-based methods together with ab initio electronic structure calculations. Electronic structure measurements indicate that the Co states lie close to the valence-band edge with pinning of the Fermi level primarily due to native defects yielding a heavily n-doped material. The findings in the electronic structure measurements are corroborated by results from theoretical calculations. We find that it is necessary to go beyond the local-density approximation to achieve agreement with experiments. Moreover, the theoretical calculations indicate a tendency for the formation of Co clusters, giving rise to an antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between the Co atoms. The magnetization measurements are well in line with the theoretical predictions, showing a dominating superparamagnetic behavior arising from small antiferromagnetic clusters containing uncompensated spins.