Spontaneous formation of suboxidic coordination around Co in ferromagnetic rutile TiCoO film

Hu, W.*; Hayashi, Koichi*; Fukumura, Tomoteru*; Akagi, Kazuto*; Tsukada, Masaru*; Happo, Naohisa*; Hosokawa, Shinya*; Owada, Kenji; Takahashi, Masamitsu; Suzuki, Motohiro*; Kawasaki, Masashi*

The local atomic structures around Co in high temperature diluted ferromagnetic semiconductor Co-doped TiO has been investigated using X-ray fluorescence holography and X-ray absorption fine structure experiments. While the Co atoms in the TiCoO simply substituted for Ti sites in the rutile structure, a suboxidic arrangement of CoOTi was found to form around Co in the TiCoO films. First-principles calculations supported the stability of the aggregated suboxidic clusters in the rutile TiO. The suboxidic coordination may be the source of strong exchange interaction, resulting in the high Curie temperature in Co-dopedTiO.