Room Temperature Ferromagnetism in Novel Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Cd_1-xMn_xGeP₂

Abstract

High concentration of Mn atoms has been incorporated in the surface region of II-IV-V 2 type chalcopyrite semiconductor CdGeP 2 . Photoluminescence spectrum at 20 K shows a peak around 3.2 eV, suggesting that the incorporation of Mn introduces an energy gap much higher than that of the host semiconductor ( E g =1.83 eV). Prominent magnetic hysteresis loops with coercivity of 0.5 kOe has been observed at room temperature. Magnetic force microscope (MFM) measurements reveal a stripe-shaped domain pattern on the top surface. Magneto-optical Kerr ellipticity spectrum measured at room temperature show a prominent peak at 1.7 eV and a broad tail up to 3.5 eV. We tentatively attribute the ferromagnetism to the double exchange interaction between Mn 2+ and Mn 3+ states due to the structural feature of II-IV-V 2 type chalcopyrite compounds.