Ferromagnetism due to oxygen vacancies in low dimensional oxides

To explain the observed room temperature ferromagnetism found in pristine oxides of TiO2, HfO2 and In2O3 thin films, a model of oxygen vacancy was proposed. An electronic structure calculation had been carried out using the tight binding method in the confinement configuration to show that a vacancy site in these oxides could create spin splitting and high spin state. The exchange interaction between the electrons surrounding the oxygen vacancy with the local field of symmetry could lead to a ferromagnetic ground state of the system.