Disentangling defect-induced ferromagnetism in SiC

1. Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research,Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf(HZDR),P.O.Box 510119,01314 Dresden,Germany2. Department of Physics and Electronics, School of Science,Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China3. Key Laboratory of Materials Physics,Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Hefei 230031, People’s Republic of China4. Technische Universita¨t Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany and5. High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, People’s Republic of ChinaWe present a detailed investigation of the magnetic properties in SiC single crystals bom-barded with Neon ions. Through careful measuring the magnetization of virgin and irra-diated SiC, we decompose the magnetization of SiC into paramagnetic, superparamagneticand ferromagnetic contributions. The ferromagnetic contribution persists well above roomtemperature and exhibits a pronounced magnetic anisotropy. We qualitatively explain themagnetic properties as a result of the intrinsic clustering tendency of defects.