Epitaxial growth and properties of III–V magnetic semiconductor (GaMn)As and its heterostructures

We present epitaxial growth, structures, magnetization, magneto-transport, and magneto-optic properties of (GaMn)As thin films and (GaMn)As/AlAs superlattice heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on GaAs substrates. (Ga1−xMnx)As is a new class of III–V based magnetic alloy semiconductor grown by low temperature MBE, which contains a large amount of Mn atom (Mn concentration x up to 8%) far above the equilibrium solubility of Mn in GaAs. The feasibility of preparing such a III–V based magnetic semiconductor and its heterostructures gives a new degree of freedom in the materials design of III–V systems, offering new opportunities to explore spin-related phenomena as well as potential device applications using both magnetic and electronic/optical functions in III–V semiconductors.