Fabrication and magnetic properties of highly oriented ZnO:Eu films by sol-gel process

A series of Eu-doped ZnO films were prepared by a sol-gel method. Precursor and films were characterized by thermal analysis (TG-DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV-vis spectra, as well as the magnetism measurement. The wurtzite structure of obtained films presents an extreme high c-orientation character. The film susceptibility resembles a Curie-Weiss behavior at high temperature, and presents an obvious enhancement at low temperature, indicating the presence of antiferromagnetic interactions in the Zn0.9Eu0.1O films.