GaMnN growth on GaAs (100) using a GaN single precursor via molecular beam epitaxy was undertaken. The grown layers revealed p-type conduction. It is confirmed that p-GaMnN reveals room temperature ferromagnetism with hysteresis loop having a coercivity of ∼100 Oe. The segregated phase showing a transition temperature of ∼200 K is assigned to Mn3GaN, and which enhances the conductivity of the surrounding GaMnN region. As a consequence, the GaMnN layer with segregation revealed an anomalous Hall effect at room temperature proving magnetotransport in GaMnN phase. The enhanced conductivity of GaMnN by the highly conductive second phase also revealed the importance of the role of the free carriers in the carrier-mediated ferromagnetism.

The crystalline structure and interfacial reactions in HfO2 films grown on InP (001) substrates was investigated as a function of film thickness. High resolution transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction measurements were used to investigate changes in the crystalline structure of the HfO2 films. As the thickness of the HfO2 increased, the crystal structure was transformed from monoclinic to tetragonal, and the interfacial layer between the HfO2 film and the InP substrate disappeared. High resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was also applied to confirm the existence of an interfacial chemical reaction in HfO2/InP. An interfacial self-cleaning effect occurred during the atomic layer deposition process, resulting in a clear interface with no indication of an interfacial layer between the HfO2 film and the InP surface. Finally, the crystallization process in the HfO2 films was found to be significantly affected by the interfacial energy.

The effects of Mg codoping on the structural, electronic transport, and magnetic properties of GaMnN films are investigated. Mg was shown to compete with Mn for incorporation into the growing films at impingement, and to replace Mn. The partial replacement of Mn by Mg in GaMnN has resulted in an increase of conductivity of the region. The enhanced transport property due to the highly efficient dopant Mg resulted in a remarkable increase of the saturation magnetization, indicating an interaction between Mn and Mg for the carrier-mediated ferromagnetism. The increased carrier population by Mg codoping enabled a full mediation among the Mn atoms, and consequently, suppressed the paramagnetic rise in the temperature-dependent magnetization measurement.

X-ray rocking curve measurements showed a significant crystallographic tilt in relaxed InGaAs layer grown on (001) GaAs. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the origin of tilt is 60° dislocations generated having Burgers vectors of a same vertical edge component. Calculations using anisotropic elasticity show that this configuration of 60° dislocation array is energetically favorable when the tilt of epilayer is present as to remove the long range stress field induced by the vertical edge components at the interface.

Atomically flat, fully strained Si 1−x Ge x layers with thicknesses ranging from 40 to 240 nm were grown on Si͑001͒ at 450°C by ultrahigh-vacuum chemical vapor deposition and subjected to annealing at 1000°C for 20 min to induce relaxation. In order to minimize surface diffusion during annealing and thereby inhibit strain-induced roughening in favor of misfit dislocation formation, SiO 2 capping layers are deposited prior to annealing. The overall process results in smooth, relaxed alloy layers without the necessity of using several-m-thick compositionally graded buffer layers.