WO3 thin films grown on Si substrates: potential high Tc ferromagnetic semiconductors

Abstract Well-defined ferromagnetism (FM) with a very high Tc of about 800 K was found in laser-ablated WO 3 films grown on Si wafer substrates. It seems that the observed magnetism is surface related, and oxygen vacancies might play an important role in inducing FM into these oxide semiconductors. The very high Tc FM is observed for the first time in nanosized-WO 3 , indicating a great potential for spintronic applications.