Structural, electrical and magnetic studies of Co:SnO2 and (Co,Mo):SnO2 films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Here we report on the structural, optical, electrical and magnetic properties of Co-doped and (Co,Mo)-codoped SnO2 thin films deposited on r-cut sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Substrate temperature during deposition was kept at 500 C. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the undoped and doped films are crystalline with predominant orientation along the [101] direction regardless of the doping concentration and doping element. Optical studies revealed that the presence of Mo reverts the blue shift trend observed for the Co-doped films. For the Co and Mo doping concentrations studied, the incorporation of Mo did not contribute to increase the conductivity of the films or to enhance the ferromagnetic order of the Co-doped films.

Phase growth control in low temperature PLD Co:TiO2 films by pressure

This paper reports on the structural and optical properties of Co-doped TiO2 thin films grown onto (0001) Al2O3 substrates by non-reactive pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using argon as buffer gas. It is shown that by keeping constant the substrate temperature at as low as 310 C and varying only the background gas pressure between 7 Pa and 70 Pa, it is possible to grow either epitaxial rutile or pure anatase thin films, as well as films with a mixture of both polymorphs. The optical band gaps of the films are red shifted in comparison to the values usually reported for undoped TiO2, which is consistent with n-type doping of the TiO2 matrix. Such band gap red shift brings the absorption edge of the Co-doped TiO2 films into the visible region, which might favour their photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the band gap red shift depends on the films phase composition, increasing with the increase of the Urbach energy for increasing rutile content.