Large enhancement of magnetic moment in nitridated CeFe12

Due to success of desired doping, ion implantation has been widely used for semiconductor processing. In this work, we used nitrogen ion implantation to enhance magnetism in CeFe12 epitaxial thin films. To optimize nitrogen contents in CeFe12 and minimize the damage caused by the high-energy ion beam, we varied the thickness of the capping Mo layer. The saturation magnetization increased nearly 25% by nitrogen ion implantation into CeFe12 thin film. This phenomenon is explained by density functional theory calculations and confirmed by the magnetic resonance technique. The ion implantation and design strategy can be used for light-ion implantation into lattices to modulate magnetic, optical, and electrical properties.