Towards a new class of heavy ion doped magnetic semiconductors for room temperature applications.

The article presents, using Bi doped ZnO, an example of a heavy ion doped oxide semiconductor, highlighting a novel p-symmetry interaction of the electronic states to stabilize ferromagnetism. The study includes both ab initio theory and experiments, which yield clear evidence for above room temperature ferromagnetism. ZnBi(x)O(1-x) thin films are grown using the pulsed laser deposition technique.