Layered transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are gaining significant attention because they exhibit unconventional magnetic properties due to crystal imperfections in their usually nonmagnetic 2D structure and are pertinent for the development of spintronic devices. This work aims to investigate the magnetic response of self-engineered Se-deficient TiSe2 thin films, synthesized using chemical vapor deposition. We demonstrate the tunability of the ferromagnetic order with the introduction of Au atoms using low-energy Au-ion implantation, which works as a controlling knob to vary the stoichiometry of Se in TiSe2–x . The corresponding isothermal field–magnetization curves fit well with a modified Brillouin J function with J values of 1.5 for Ti3+ and 4 for Au3+, accounting for the diamagnetism that arises from Au implantation. We propose a qualitative model for the experimentally observed magnetization as a function of the ion fluence, corroborated with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Depending on the Au nanoparticle size in the implanted samples, magnetization saturates faster at a much lower applied magnetic field than that with the pristine sample. Our findings hold the potential to expand the range of 2D ferromagnetic materials for spintronic and magnetic-sensing device applications.

We report the effect of nitrogen partial pressure on the growth of NbTiN thin films through reactive sputtering of NbTitarget in presence of Ar and N2 atmosphere. The N2 partial pressure was varied from 5.8% to 15.15% with respect to the Ar flow available in the chamber. We measured a critical temperature (TC) as high as 15.77 K for a N2 partial pressure of 6.8% for a 50 nm film deposited on MgO substrate. The epitaxial growth of the NbTiN films is evident from the observed (200) and (400) XRD peaks with respect to the substrate. The superconducting properties were analyzed with respect to the observed values of TC, ∆TC, temperature dependence of the upper critical field (BC2), coherence length (ξ), diffusion coefficient (D), and the thermally activated flux flow (TAFF) behaviour following the Arrhenius equation. The TC variation observed for the entire spectrum of N2 partial pressure variation is ~11%, with TC getting saturated towards the higher end of the N2 content. While the TCvariation with respect to N2 content is non linear- , the variation of BC2(0), diffusion coefficient, and zero temperature coherence length ξ(0) show a linear dependence. While the BC2(0) values show an increasing trend, D and ξ(0) values show a decreasing trend with respect to the increase of N2 partial pressure. It is concluded that the optimum window of N2 partial pressure for the reactive sputtering of NbTiN using a target of Nb0.7Ti0.3for the present experimental conditions, in terms of epitaxial growth and obtaining highest TCis within the range of 5.8% to 8.51%.