Identification of the interstitial Mn site in ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As

Journal Article · Mon Jan 05 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4905556· OSTI ID:22395656

Lima, T. A. L.; Augustyns, V.; Temst, K.; Vantomme, A.; Pereira, L. M. C., ^[1]; Wahl, U.; Costa, A.; Correia, J. G. ^[2]; Silva, D. J.; Araújo, J. P. ^[3]; Houben, K.; Van Bael, M. J. ^[4]; Edmonds, K. W.; Gallagher, B. L.; Campion, R. P. ^[5]; Silva, M. R. da ^[6]

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1. KU Leuven, Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, 3001 Leuven (Belgium)
2. Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 2686-953 Sacavém (Portugal)
3. IFIMUP and IN-Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Universidade do Porto, 4169-007 Porto (Portugal)
4. Laboratory of Solid-State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven (Belgium)
5. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD (United Kingdom)
6. Centro de Física Nuclear, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa 1649-003 (Portugal)

We determined the lattice location of Mn in ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As using the electron emission channeling technique. We show that interstitial Mn occupies the tetrahedral site with As nearest neighbors (T{sub As}) both before and after thermal annealing at 200 °C, whereas the occupancy of the tetrahedral site with Ga nearest neighbors (T{sub Ga}) is negligible. T{sub As} is therefore the energetically favorable site for interstitial Mn in isolated form as well as when forming complexes with substitutional Mn. These results shed new light on the long standing controversy regarding T{sub As} versus T{sub Ga} occupancy of interstitial Mn in (Ga,Mn)As.

• OSTI ID: 22395656
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANNEALING
CHANNELING
ELECTRON EMISSION
FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS
FERROMAGNETISM
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
INTERSTITIALS
MANGANESE ARSENIDES
MANGANESE COMPLEXES
VISIBLE RADIATION