Condensed Matter Physics Commons^™

Understanding The Magnetic Properties Of Ii-Vi Semiconductor Nanocrystals, Alex Khammang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Semiconductor nanocrystals (NC) are well known for their unique size tunable optical properties making them suitable candidates for devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), solar cells, and cellular labels. II-VI semiconductors in the bulk form behave diamagnetically, but can inherit paramagnetic (PM) or ferromagnetic (FM) properties at the nanoscale. Reports suggest that the emergence of weak PM or FM behavior in undoped NCs are attributed to the increased surface to volume ratio compared for NCs. Traditionally, these NCs only obtain magnetic properties after doping with certain transition metals, such as Co, Mn, or Fe. Many mechanisms have been proposed …