Effects of annealing time on defect-controlled ferromagnetism in Ga1−xMnxAs

Abstract

We have studied the evolution of the magnetic, electronic, and structural properties of annealed epilayers of Ga1−xMnxAs grown by low temperature molecular beam epitaxy. Annealing at the optimal temperature of 250 °C for less than 2 h significantly enhances the conductivity and ferromagnetism, but continuing the annealing for longer times suppresses both. These data indicate that such annealing induces the defects in Ga1−xMnxAs to evolve through at least two different processes, and they point to a complex interplay between the different defects and ferromagnetism in this material.