Low energy argon ion irradiation effect on magnetic behavior of polycrystalline Cu substituted ZnO

Zn1-xCuxO (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) polycrystalline samples were prepared by solid state reaction route and then irradiated with 1.2 MeV argon ions at a fluence value of 1.1 × 1016 ions/cm2. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and VSM measurements. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirms that the structural properties of Zn1-xCuxO films do not change substantially with ion beam irradiation. However, Raman studies clearly show the lattice distortion and the presence of point defects. All the samples exhibit room temperature ferromagnetic behavior. The saturation magnetization value decreases with increasing Cu concentration due to the enhancement of diamagnetic contribution and the improvement of amorphous nature of the samples.