The comprehensive search for multifunctional materials has resulted in the discovery of semiconductors and oxides showing ferromagnetic features persisting to room temperature. In this tutorial review the methods of synthesis of these materials, as well as the application of element-specific nano-analytic tools, particularly involving synchrotron radiation and electron microscopy, are described...

Diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) are semiconductors alloyed with magnetic elements [1]. The physical properties of these materials can be tuned by both charge and spin, thus, they have great potential of being used in a wide variety of spintronic applications, such as magneto-optical, magneto-electrical, and magneto-transport devices. Spintronics (spin+electronics) is the technology that ...