Ferromagnets based on diamond-like semiconductors GaSb,InSb, Ge,and Si supersaturated with manganese or iron impurities during laser-plasma deposition

Properties of thin (30–100 nm) layers of diluted magnetic semiconductors based on diamond-like compounds III–V (InSb and GaSb) and elemental semiconductors Ge and Si doped with 3d impurities of manganese and iron up to 15% were measured and discussed. The layers were grown by laser-plasma deposition onto heated single-crystal gallium arsenide or sapphire substrates. The ferromagnetism of layers with the Curie temperature up to 500 K appeared in observations of the ferromagnetic resonance, anomalous Hall effect, and magneto-optic Kerr effect. The carrier mobility of diluted magnetic semiconductors is a hundred times larger than that of the previously known highest temperature magnetic semiconductors, i.e., copper and chromium chalcogenides. The difference between changes in the magnetization with temperature in diluted semiconductors based on III–V, Ge, and Si was discussed. A complex structure of the ferromagnetic resonance spectrum in Si:Mn/GaAs was observed. The results of magnetic-force microscopy showed a weak correlation between the surface relief and magnetic inhomogeneity, which suggests that the ferromagnetism is caused by the 3d-impurity solid solution, rather than ferromagnetic phase inclusions.