Ferromagnetic ordering of Cr and Fe doped p-type diamond: An ab initio study

Ferromagnetic ordering of transition metal dopants in semiconductors holds the prospect of combining the capabilities of semiconductors and magnetic systems in single hybrid devices for spintronic applications. Various semiconductors have so far been considered for spintronic applications, but low Curie temperatures have hindered room temperature applications. We report ab initio DFT calculations on the stability and magnetic properties of Fe and Cr impurities in diamond, and show that their ground state magnetic ordering and stabilization energies depend strongly on the charge state and type of co-doping. We predict that divacancy Cr+2 and substitutional Fe+1 order ferromagnetically in p-type diamond, with magnetic stabilization energies (and magnetic moment per impurity ion) of 16.9 meV (2.5 μB) and 33.3 meV (1.0 μB), respectively. These magnetic stabilization energies are much larger than what has been achieved in other semiconductors at comparable impurity concentrations, including the archetypal dilute magnetic semiconductor GaAs:Mn. In addition, substitutional Fe+1 exhibits a strong half-metallic character, with the Fermi level crossing bands in only the spin down channel. These results, combined with diamond's extreme properties, demonstrate that Cr or Fe dopedp-type diamond may successfully be considered in the search for room temperature spintronic materials