Dilute magnetic semiconductor solid solutions of zinc cobalt telluride

Dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) materials are a new class of materials with many interesting properties and potential applications. These materials are bulk non-magnetic semiconductor compounds doped with magnetic cations. This project aimed to synthesize a new dilute magnetic semiconductor compound using a solid solution of zinc and cobalt telluride. Standard ceramic synthetic methods were used in an attempt to create this solid solution and its end members. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to determine a heating profile for the reaction. X-ray diffraction was used for phase identification, and paired with Rietveld refinement to do phase analysis. Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy was used to do further elemental analysis. UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy was used to elucidate the band gaps of the synthesized materials and investigate any variance with doping. The compounds synthesized were found to contain oxide contaminations. To investigate the reason for oxide contamination the syntheses were run using various reaction methods. Initial oxide contamination was around 10 wt-% with later syntheses showing contamination around 2.5 wt-%.