稀磁半导体材料的研究进展及应用前景

综述了稀磁半导体的研究现状,从其分类、各自特点、物理性质和应用现状等各方面详细阐述了稀磁半导体的基本特点,并展望了今后稀磁半导体的研究重点与实用方向.     

(Ga,Mn)As稀磁半导体的杂质动力学模拟研究

结合第一性原理计算和动力学蒙特卡罗模拟研究了稀磁半导体(Ga,Mn)As中Mn杂质的沉积动力学规律。利用第一性原理计算和爬坡弹性带方法计算了Mn杂质的跃迁势垒和结合能,并把这些能量作为动力学蒙特卡罗模拟(Ga,Mn)As微观结构演化的输入数据。结果表明在外延生长退火下长时间的微观结构演化的背后机制是Ga空位调节Mn原子在Ga子晶格上进行扩散。这种扩散会导致Mn原子的聚集,进而降低了居里温度。此外,随着退火温度的升高Mn团簇聚集的速率也更快。在高温退火下容易导致相分离。     

(Ga,Mn)N : Sn Epilayers

We have prepared (Ga,Mn)N : Sn epilayers on sapphire(0001) substrates by RF-plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. We found that codoping with Sn enhances the incorporation of Mn into a GaN host crystal. With increasing the Sn content, the offset ferromagnetic magnetization component tends to disappear and the epilayers become completely paramagnetic. The effective spin number is S 2.5 without Sn, whereas it decreases to S 2.0 when Sn is incorporated. n-type conduction starts to take place when Sn contents exceed beyond the Mn contents.     

Magnetic and Magnetotransport Properties of Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor (Ga,Mn)Sb Crystals

We report the magnetic and magnetotransport properties of Ga_1−x Mn _x Sb crystals grown with different Mn doping concentrations (x=0.01, 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04) by the horizontal Bridgman technique. A systematic reduction in lattice parameter with increase in Mn concentration is observed through X-ray diffraction studies. The crystals show negative magnetoresistance and anomalous Hall effect below 10 K. Anomalous Hall coefficient is negative and decreases with increasing Mn concentration. Temperature dependence on magnetization measurement shows a magnetic ordering below 10 K which could arise from GaMnSb alloy formation. Also, ferromagnetism is observed till room temperature due to the presence of MnSb clusters. Existence of MnSb clusters is verified through scanning electron microscopy. The carrier concentration increases with Mn doping and this results in decrease of resistivity. The observed magnetic and transport properties indicate the presence of ferromagnetic phase below 10 K in the studied system.      

Manifestation of Local Magnetic Domain Reversal by Spin-Polarized Carrier Injection in (Ga,Mn)As Thin Films

Recently, we have reported that the spin-polarized holes generated by the irradiation with circularly polarized light can change the magnetization orientation of III–V ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As via p–d exchange interaction. In this paper, we report that a small portion of change does not return to the initial state after the light is turned off. This residual component, named as the memorization effect, exhibits ferromagnetic characteristics. This fact strongly suggests that small magnetic domains having the perpendicular magnetic axis are rotated by photogenerated carrier spins.     

Magnetization Reversal by Electrical Spin Injection in Ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As-Based Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

We report current-induced magnetization reversal in a ferromagnetic semiconductor-based magnetic tunnel junction (Ga,Mn)As/AlAs/(Ga,Mn)As prepared by molecular beam epitaxy on a p-GaAs(001) substrate. A change in magneto-resistance that is asymmetric with respect to the current direction is found with the excitation current of 10⁶ A/cm². Contributions of both unpolarized and spin-polarized components are examined, and we conclude that the partial magnetization reversal occurs in the (Ga,Mn)As layer having smaller magnetization with the spin-polarized tunneling current of 10⁵ A/cm².     

Controlling the Charge and the Spin Polarization Distributions in (In,Ga,Mn)As-Based Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Multilayered Structures

A self-consistent Luttinger–Kohn (LK) calculation is used to obtain the electronic structure of Mn-doped semiconductor multilayers. In the particular, case of a (In,Ga)As/GaAs heterostructure, the ternary alloy has a smaller gap than GaAs, and introduces strain due to the differences on the lattice parameters. The aim of this work is to understand how the charge and the spin polarization densities can be controlled by the parameters of the structure in such way that they appear concentrated either on the magnetic or in the non-magnetic region. We show that by changing the In concentration the valence band mismatch competes with the energy splitting due to the magnetic interaction, and we can manipulate the charge and the spin polarization densities in the structure.     

Temperature Peculiarities of Magnetic Anisotropy in (Ga,Mn)As: The Role of the Hole Concentration

It is demonstrated by SQUID measurements that (Ga,Mn)As films can exhibit perpendicular easy axis at low temperatures, even under compressive strain, provided that the hole concentration is sufficiently small. In such films, the easy axis assume a standard in-plane orientation when the temperature is increased towards the Curie temperature. The findings are shown to corroborate the predictions of the mean-field Zener model for strained (III,Mn)V ferromagnetic semiconductors.     

Magnetic Specific Heat of Heavily p-Type Doped (Zn,Mn)Te:P

The magnetic contribution to the specific heat of bulk crystals of Zn_1–x Mn _x Te ( x = 0.03) heavily (up to 10¹⁹ cm^–3) p-type doped with P is studied over the temperature range 0.5–15 K and magnetic field range 0–3 T. The magnetic specific heat observed at zero magnetic field indicates that a substantial part of the magnetic ions has the degeneracy of their magnetic ground state lifted by d–d and p–d exchange interactions. The effect increases for doped and annealed samples with higher concentration of conducting holes. We have also carried out a theoretical analysis that takes into account the contributions due to small magnetic clusters, single magnetic ions in crystal field of distorted crystal lattice, and low energy excitations of the p–d exchange-coupled system of local moments and carriers.     

Electrical Properties and Ferromagnetism in (Ga,Cr)As

MBE-grown (Ga,Cr)As has interesting electric and magnetic properties. Ga_1–x Cr _x As with x = 0.1 exhibits short-range ferromagnetic behavior at low temperatures. This is manifest in several anomalous properties: magnetization does not scale with B/T; fitting M(B) requires a model of distributed magnetic cluster or polarons; and inverse susceptibility is nonliner in T (non-Curie–Weiss) at low fields. At room temperature, the conductivity is activated and Hall measurements yield a hole concentration of 10²⁰ cm^–3, indicating that chromium acts as an acceptor similar to Mn in GaAs. For decreasing temperature, the conductivity decreases by eight orders of magnitude and follows exp(1/T ^1/2).     

Photoinduced Magnetization Rotation and Precessional Motion of Magnetization in Ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As

Dynamics of photoinduced magnetization have been studied in ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As thin films by time-resolved polar Kerr rotation. Ultrafast (150 fs) magnetization rotation has been realized using both chirality of excitation light and p–d exchange interaction. We also report on the occurrence of photoinduced magnetization precession in longer time domain. This is initiated by a change in hole concentration and resultant change in magnetic anisotropy. The overall behaviors of these photoinduced magnetization dynamics are discussed.     

Is High TC Possible in (Ga,Mn)N?: Monte Carlo Simulation vs. Mean Field Approximation

The magnetic properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) are calculated from first-principles by mapping the ab initio results on a classical Heisenberg model. By using the Korringa–Kohn–Rostoker coherent potential approximation method within the local density approximation, the electronic structure of (Ga,Mn)N and (Ga,Mn)As is calculated. Effective exchange coupling constants J_ijs are calculated by using the formula of Liechtenstein et al. (A.~I. Liechtenstein, M. I. Katsnelson, V. P. Antropov, and V. A. Gubanov, 1987, J.~Magn. Magn. Mater. Vol. 67, p. 65). It is found that the range of the exchange interaction in (Ga,Mn)N is very short due to the exponential decay of the impurity wave function in the gap. On the other hand, in (Ga,Mn)As, the interaction is weaker but long ranged because the extended valence hole states mediate the ferromagnetic interaction. Monte Carlo simulations show that the T_C values of (Ga,Mn)N are very low since percolation is difficult to achieve for small concentrations and the mean field approximation strongly overestimates T_C. Even in (Ga,Mn)As the percolation effect is still important.     

新型稀土锰基化合物TbMn6-xTxSn6(T=Al,V)中的磁特性研究*

研究了TbNn6-xTxSn6(T=AI,V)新型稀土锰基化合物的居里温度、饱和磁化强度、自旋重取向温度、磁各向异性和成分x的关系。发现磁各向异性场和自旋重取向温度具有类似的成分依赖关系。