We revisit the most widely investigated and controversial oxide diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS), Co:TiO2, with a new high temperature film growth, and show that the corresponding material is not only an intrinsic DMS ferromagnet, but also supports a percolative mechanism of ferromagnetism. We establish the uniformity of dopant distribution across the film cross section by Z-contrast imaging via scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) at spatial resolution of 0.4 nm and the oxidized 2+ valence state of cobalt by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The dependence of magnetic properties on cobalt concentration is consistent with the defect polaron percolation model. The peculiar increase in the transport activation energy above a specific cobalt concentration further emphasizes the polaron contribution to magnetic order.
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