Effect of growth conditions on the magnetic characteristics of GaGdN

GaGdN layers were grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy with varying crystal quality and Gd concentrations as set by the Gd cell temperature. Magnetic measurements showed ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature, with the saturation magnetization dependent both on Gd concentration and crystalline quality. The Gd concentration was under the detection limit of secondary ion mass spectrometry, and estimated to be on the order of <1017at.∕cm3. As expected at this low dopant concentration, x-ray diffraction measurements showed the films to be single phase. Gd-doped samples codoped with Si to make them conducting with resistivity of 0.04Ωcm showed similar magnetic properties as Gd-doped films without addition of Si.