Hydrogen-induced anomalous Hall effect in Co-doped ZnO

Abstract

The electrical transport characteristics and anomalous Hall effect (AHE) were investigated for a hydrogen-injected Co-doped ZnO thin film. Based on the measurements of resistivity and the Hall effect between 5 K and 300 K, the existence of Co-H-Co complexes was observed to introduce the AHE and enable the AHE to persist up to room temperature. The observed H-induced AHE originates from the asymmetric scattering of carrier hopping between the localized states driven by ferromagnetic Co-H-Co complexes, and a theoretical study using first-principle calculations supports the experimental results well. This large ferromagnetic response of charge carriers by the hydrogen-induced AHE on semiconducting oxides will stimulate the further investigation of room-temperature spintronic applications. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.