A proposed new route to d0 magnetism in semiconductors

Abstract: Here we propose to induce magnetism in semiconductor utilizing the unique properties of the interstitial defect to act as the magnetic impurity within the alpha-PbO crystal structure. The Pbi interstitial generates the p-localized state with two on-site electrons to obey the Hund's rule for their ordering. It is demonstrated that instead of Pb interstitial other non-magnetic impurities of s^2p^{x} outer shell configuration can be applied to induce d0 magnetism with possibility to tune the local magnetic moments mu_B by varying a number of electrons 1< x< 3. The magnetic coupling between such defects is found to be driven by the long-range order interactions that in combination with high defect solubility promises the magnetic percolation to remain above the room temperature.