Preparation and Characterization of Fe-Based III-V Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor (Ga, Fe)As

Abstract

The Fe-based III-V diluted magnetic semiconductor (III-V-DMS), (Ga, Fe)As, has been grown successfully on GaAs(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy at a substrate temperature T s ranging from 260–350°C. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy analysis has exhibited that the film composition can be expressed by Ga 1- x Fe x As. X-ray diffraction data have indicated that the lattice constant of Ga 1- x Fe x As decreases with increasing Fe composition. Magnetization data have exhibited that epilayers are predominantly paramagnetic, however, their detailed behavior differs from that of Mn-based DMS systems. The work has demonstrated that the physical properties of III-V-DMS can be changed significantly by the choice of transition metals.