Preparation and Characterization of IV–VI Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Ge1?xCrxTe

IV–VI diluted magnetic semiconductor Ge_1–xCr_xTe films with different Cr compositions up to x = 0.33 were successfully prepared by a sputtering method. Curie–Weiss behavior, giving that the paramagnetic Curie temperature is 29 K and the effective number of the Bohr magneton is 4.67, is clearly observed for a Ge_1–xCr_xTe (x = 0.07) film. All the films show ferromagnetic order at low temperatures. The easy direction of the magnetization orients perpendicular to the plane. As the Cr composition increases, the ferromagnetic Curie temperature determined from the temperature dependence of the residual magnetization tends to increase up to 25 K for x = 0.33.