Metastable giant moments in Gd-Implanted GaN, Si, and sapphire

We report on Gd ion implantation and magnetic characterization of GaN films on sapphire substrates and of bare sapphire and Si substrates to shed light on the mechanism underlying the induced magnetism upon Gd ion implantation. For all three hosts, giant magnetic moments per Gd ion were observed at temperatures of 5 through 300 K. The maximum moment per Gd in GaN was 1800 μB, while the moments in Gd-implanted Si and sapphire were only slightly smaller. The apparent induced ferromagnetic response was found to be metastable, disappearing after on the order of 50 days at room temperature, except for the implanted sapphire. We argue that our findings support a defect-based picture of magnetism in Gd-implanted semiconductors and insulators.