Extraordinary Hall effect and universal scaling in Fe{sub x}(ZnO){sub 1–x} granular thin films at room temperature
On the benefit of the concept of the so-called diluted magnetic oxides, Fe{sub x}(ZnO){sub 1–x} (x = 0.50–0.85) granular thin films with different thickness through 2D and 3D percolation region were prepared by ion beam assisted deposition. All samples are ferromagnetic at room-temperature due to the ferromagnetic nature of the Fe-doped ZnO matrix, which is quite different from the superparamagnetic behavior in the insulator-matrix based granular films. Along with decreasing thickness, the Hall coefficient R{sub S} is largely enhanced. The maximum R{sub S} reaches 4.27 × 10{sup −7} m{sup 3}/C in ∼2.8 nm Fe{sub 0.6}(ZnO){sub 0.4} granular film, which is nearly 9 times larger than the R{sub S} (4.64 × 10{sup −8} m{sup 3}/C) of the ∼50 nm Fe{sub 0.6}(ZnO){sub 0.4} sample. Meanwhile, the R{sub S} could maintain in a wide temperature region from 10 K to 300 K and the Hall sensitivity reaches ∼130 V/AT at room-temperature. The scaling exponential of n = 1.7 ± 0.1 in σ{sub xy}∼σ{sub xx}{sup n} is observed, fitting well with the recent developed universal scaling theory characterized by n = 1.6 in the dirty limit.