Here we report on the effect of rare earth Gd-doping on the magnetic properties and magnetotransport of GaN two-dimensional electron gasses (2DEGs). Samples are grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and consist of AlN/GaN heterostructures where Gd is delta-doped within a polarization-induced 2DEG. Ferromagnetism is observed in these Gd-doped 2DEGs with a Curie temperature above room temperature and an anisotropic spontaneous magnetization preferring an out-of-plane (c-axis) orientation. At magnetic fields up to 50 kOe, the magnetization remains smaller for in-plane configuration than for out-of-plane, which is indicative of exchange coupled spins locked along the polar c-axis. The sample with the lowest Gd concentration (2.3 $\times$ $10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$) exhibits a saturation magnetization of 41.1 $μ_B/Gd^{3+}$ at 5 K revealing that the Gd ion spins (7 $μ_B$) alone do not account for the magnetization. Surprisingly, control samples grown without any Gd display inconsistent magnetic properties; in some control samples weak ferromagnetism is observed and in others paramagnetism. The ferromagnetic 2DEGs do not exhibit the anomalous Hall effect; the Hall resistance varies non-linearly with the magnetic field, but does not track the magnetization indicating the lack of coupling between the ferromagnetic phase and the conduction band electrons within the 2DEG.
We report on the magnetic properties of GaN:Gd layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). A poor reproducibility with respect to the magnetic properties is found in these samples. Our results show strong indications that defects with a concentration of the order of 10^19 cm^-3 might play an important role for the magnetic properties. Positron annihilation spectroscopy does not support the suggested connection between the ferromagnetism and the Ga vacancy in GaN:Gd. Oxygen co-doping of GaN:Gd promotes ferromagnetism at room temperature and points to a role of oxygen for mediating ferromagnet…
We present an explanation of recently observed giant magnetic moment and room-temperature ferromagnetism in the dielectric GaN doped with Gd. Our approach uses the polarization mechanism of exchange interaction, which occurs if the d-level of Gd appears in the bandgap close to the valence band edge. Calculated ferromagnetic critical temperature and the value of the magnetic moment well correspond to experimental findings.
Otherwise antiferromagnetic chromium is shown to couple ferromagnetically when doped into GaN irrespective of whether the host is a crystal or a cluster. The results on the doped clusters and crystals are obtained from density functional theory based molecular orbital theory and linearized muffin tin orbital tight binding supercell band structure method respectively. The calculated half metallic behavior of Cr-doped GaN crystal combined with the observed room temperature Curie point make it an ideal candidate for spintronics applications.
Density functional calculations are performed to investigate the room temperature ferromagnetism in GaN:Cu nanowires (NWs). Our results indicate that two Cu dopants are most stable when they are near each other. Compared to bulk GaN:Cu, we find that magnetization and ferromagnetism in Cu doped NWs is strongly enhanced because the band width of the Cu td band is reduced due to the 1D nature of the NW. The surface passivation is shown to be crucial to sustain the ferromagnetism in GaN:Cu NWs. These findings are in good agreement with experimental observations and indicate that ferromagnetism in …
We report the observation of ferromagnetism at over 900K in Cr-GaN and Cr-AlN thin films. The saturation magnetization moments in our best films of Cr-GaN and Cr-AlN at low temperatures are 0.42 and 0.6 u_B/Cr atom, respectively, indicating that 14% and 20%, of the Cr atoms, respectively, are magnetically active. While Cr-AlN is highly resistive, Cr-GaN exhibits thermally activated conduction that follows the exponential law expected for variable range hopping between localized states. Hall measurements on a Cr-GaN sample indicate a mobility of 0.06 cm^2/V.s, which falls in the range character…
Using first-principles total-energy methods, we investigate Jahn-Teller distortions in III-V dilute magnetic semiconductors, GaAs:Mn and GaN:Mn in the cubic zinc blende structure. The results for an isolated Mn impurity on a Ga site show that there is no appreciable effect in GaAs, whereas, in GaN there is a Jahn-Teller effect in which the symmetry around the impurity changes from T$_{d}$ to D$_{2d}$ or to C$_{2v}$. The large effect in GaN occurs because of the localized d$^4$ character, which is further enhanced by the distortion. The lower symmetry should be detectable experimentally in cubi…
Wurtzite GaN:Mn films on sapphire substrates were successfully grown by use of the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system. The film has an extremely high Curie temperature of around 940 K, although the Mn concentration is only about 3 ~ 5 %. Magnetization measurements were carried out in magnetic fields parallel to the film surface up to 7 T. The magnetization process shows the coexistence of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic contributions at low temperatures, while the typical ferromagnetic magnetization process is mainly observed at high temperatures because of the decrease of the paramagnetic con…
Ferromagnetic ordering is reported in the post-annealed samples of Co doped n-GaN formed by Co+ implantation. A maximum Curie temperature ~ 250K is recorded for the sample with 8 atomic percent Co. Particle induced x-ray emission-channeling study confirmed the substitutional Co in Ga lattice site. Local atomic arrangement around magnetic impurities is also analyzed using Raman study. A disordered model with carrier mediated coupling of localized magnetic moments is made responsible for the observed ferromagnetic ordering.
The magnetic coupling between doped Mn atoms in clusters as well as crystals of GaN has been studied from first principles using molecular orbital theory for clusters and linearized muffin tin orbitals-tight binding formulation (LMTO-TB) for crystals. The calculations, based on density functional theory and generalized gradient approximation for exchange and correlation, reveal the coupling to be ferromagnetic with a magnetic moment ranging from 2.0 to 4.0 Bohr magnetons per Mn atom depending on its environment. Mn atoms also tend to cluster and bind more strongly to N atoms than to Ga atoms. …
Present work investigates the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of wurtzite (0001) GaN nanowires (NWs) doped with Gd and point defects by employing the GGA+U approximation. We find that Ga vacancies (VGa) exhibit lower formation energy compared to N vacancies (VN). Further stabilization of point defects occurs due to the presence of Gd and ambient ferromagnetism (FM) can be stabilized in the NW by the additional positive charge induced by the VGa. Electronic structure analysis shows that VGa introduces additional levels in the band gap leading to ferromagnetic coupling due to the …
Using {\it ab initio} band structure calculations and symmetry arguments, we show that the magnetic property of Ga$_{1-x}$Gd$_x$N is drastically different from TM-doped GaN. The coupling between Gd atoms in the alloy is antiferromagnetic, but the ferromagnetic phase can be stabilized by introducing electrons. Furthermore, we propose a model that may explain the recently observed colossal magnetic moments in this system, based on the polarization of donor electrons.
We propose a method for nano-scale characterization of long range magnetic order in diluted magnetic systems to clarify the origins of the room temperature ferromagnetism. The GaN:Mn thin films are grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition with the concentration of Ga-substitutional Mn up to 3.8%. Atomic force microscope (AFM) and magnetic force microscope (MFM) characterizations are performed on etched artificial microstructures and natural dislocation pits. Numerical simulations and theoretical analysis on the AFM and MFM data have confirmed the formation of long range magnetic order …
Electronic structures, exchange interaction mechanism between magnetic ions and Curie temperature of Vanadium - doped Nitrides (AlN, GaN, and InN) are studied within KKR-LSDA-CPA. It is found that the ferromagnetic super-exchange interaction mechanism is dominant at low concentrations of Vanadium, but the anti-ferromagnetic super-exchange interaction appears and reduces the stabilization of ferromagnetism at sufficiently high concentrations (x > 0.10), especially for Vanadium-doped AlN and Vanadium- doped GaN. The estimation of the Curie temperature within the mean field approximation shows th…
The magnetism in 12.5% and 25% Mn delta-doped cubic GaN has been investigated using the density-functional theory calculations. The results show that the single-layer delta-doping and half-delta-doping structures show robust ground state half-metallic ferromagnetism (HMF), and the double-layer delta-doping structure shows robust ground state antiferromagnetism (AFM) with large spin-flip energy of 479.0 meV per Mn-Mn pair. The delta-doping structures show enhanced two-dimensional magnetism. We discuss the origin of the HMF using a simple crystal field model. Finally, we discuss the antiferromag…
Considerable efforts have been devoted recently to synthesize diluted magnetic semiconductors having ferromagnetic properties at room temperature because of their technological impacts for spintronic devices. In 2001 successful growth of GaMnN films showing room temperature ferromagnetism and p-type conductivity has been reported. The estimated Curie temperature was 940K at 5.7% of Mn, which is highest among diluted magnetic semiconductors ever been reported. However, the electronic mechanism behind the ferromagnetic behaviour has still been controversial. Here we show experimental evidence us…
Magnetic properties of Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$N are studied theoretically by employing a tight binding approach to determine exchange integrals $J_{ij}$ characterizing the coupling between Mn spin pairs located at distances $R_{ij}$ up to the 16th cation coordination sphere in zinc-blende GaN. It is shown that for a set of experimentally determined input parameters there are no itinerant carriers and the coupling between localized Mn$^{3+}$ spins in GaN proceeds via superexchange that is ferromagnetic for all explored $R_{ij}$ values. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations serve to evaluate the magnitudes…
We investigate the magnetic and magneto-optic properties of epitaxial GaN:Gd layers as a function of the external magnetic field and temperature. An unprecedented magnetic moment is observed in this diluted magnetic semiconductor. The average value of the moment per Gd atom is found to be as high as 4000 \mub as compared to its atomic moment of 8 \mub. The long-range spin-polarization of the GaN matrix by Gd is also reflected in the circular polarization of magneto-photoluminescence measurements. Moreover, the materials system is found to be ferromagnetic above room temperature in the entire c…
Nominally 45 nm GaN:Mg/ 5 nm (Ga,Mn)N / 45 nm GaN:Mg trilayers structures prepared by molecular beam epitaxy on GaN-buffered Al2O3 substrates are investigated to verify whether the indirect co-doping by holes from the cladding layers can alter the spin-spin interaction in (Ga,Mn)N. The four investigated structures, differing with the Mg doping level, are carefully characterized at the nanoscale by HRTEM, EDX, and by SIMS. HRTEM decisively excluded a presence of foreign Mn-rich phases. The structures, up to medium Mg doping, show no Mg over-doping effects. Magnetic studies of these structures a…
A report of progress in spintronics-related works involving group III nitrides is given emphasizing contradictory opinions concerning basics characteristics of these materials. The actual position of magnetic impurities in the GaN lattice as well as a possible role of magnetic precipitates is discussed. The question whether the hole introduce by the Mn impurities is localized tightly on the Mn d-levels or rather on the hybridized p-d bonding states is addressed. The nature of spin-spin interactions and magnetic phases, as provided by theoretical and experimental findings, is outlined, and poss…
