Structural, Optical and Magnetic Properties of Cr Doped CdSe Powders Prepared by Solid State Reaction

As the key factor to study dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) for spintronic applications is the potential to harvest high-quality-single-phase dilute magnetic semiconductors. In this paper, we report the room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) in Cr doped CdSe powders synthesized through solid state reaction. The structural, optical and magnetic properties of Cd1-xCrxSe (x= 0.00, 0.04 and 0.08) powders at room temperature has been investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirmed the chromium (Cr) incorporation into the CdSe crystal lattice without disturbing the hexagonal (wurtzite) structure. The lattice parameters are found to be increased with increased Cr concentration in CdSe lattice. The band gap of Cd1-xCrxSe powders has been found to be red shifted as compared to pure CdSe. Magnetic hysteresis (M-H) loops at room temperature reveal the persistence of ferromagnetism in Cd1-xCrxSe powders. The saturation magnetization values increased with increase of ‘x' in Cd1-xCrxSe. The observed RTFM might due to carrier mediated exchange interactions present in the system