Mn-doped Ge and Si: A Review of the Experimental Status

Abstract

Diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors (FMS) are in the focus of intense research due to their potential applications in spintronics and their striking new physical properties. So far Mn-doped III-V compound semiconductors such as GaMnAs are the most important and best understood ones, but they are ferromagnetic only at well below room temperature. An interesting alternative could be magnetic semiconductors based on elemental semiconductors, also owing to their compatibility with Si microelectronics. In the last decades, considerable amount of work has been devoted to fabricate Mn-doped Ge and Si FMS. In this article, the structural, magnetic and magneto-transport properties of Mn-doped Ge and Si will be reviewed.

Dependence of magnetic properties on the growth temperature of Mn0.04Ge0.96 grown on Si (001)

“…In particular, Mn doped Ge based diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) exhibit specific magnetic and transport properties which allow them to be used for high-frequency applications. Recent studies on these materials have shown that the growth condition and magnetic impurity concentration play a significant role in determining the spatial distribution of magnetic dopants and their magnetic coupling [3,4].…”

High-temperature ferromagnetism of Si 1−x Mn x ( x ≈0.52−0.55) alloys

“…Indeed, most of the studies of Si 1 À x Mn x system have been performed on the samples with relatively low content of manganese ions (xo 0.05) incorporated by ion-implantation (see [1][2][3][4] and references therein) and FM ordering above room temperature (RT) has been revealed. However, these dilute alloys turn out to be strongly inhomogeneous materials due to their phase segregation, with isolated magnetic MnSi 1.7 nanoparticles (х $ 0.35) precipitated in the Si matrix [1,2].…”

“…Si-Mn alloys attract an increasing interest for application in spintronic as integrated-circuit elements easily incorporated into the existing microelectron technology [1] and also exhibit unusual magnetic and transport behavior [2][3][4][5].…”

Electronic properties of manganese impurities in germanium

“…• C as well as after magnetron cosputtering, showed evidence for the presence of Mn atoms on the substitutional lattice site, [17,18] pure Mn, after which a thermal treatment was given. This consisted of heating from room temperature to 700…”