SEMIMAGNETIC SEMICONDUCTORS

Authors

  • Robert GAŁĄZKA

Abstract

Semimagnetic semiconductors (SMS) are a group of solids at the interface between semiconductors and magnetic materials. Semimagnetic semiconductors (also referred to as diluted magnetic semiconductors) are semiconductor-based solid solutions where a part of the cations are replaced by transition metals or rare earth elements. The crystallographic structure of the semiconductor is conserved; the lattice constant is a function of composition. From a magnetic point of view SMS is a disordered magnetic material, since magnetic atoms are randomly distributed in cation sublattice of the semiconductor compound. Table 1 presents the most complete list of bulk ternary SMS. Quaternary SMS are also investigated (e.g., PbSnMnTe or CdMnSeTe). The table does not contain III-V SMS obtained by MBE technique, although these broadly investigated materials can be treated as 3D bulk crystals. The table contains only crystals obtained under thermodynamic equilibrium conditions, whilst III-V SMS and some other SMS obtained by MBE are rather metastable structures.

Generally speaking, in SMS there coexist two interrelated and interacting subsystems: mobile delocalized charge carriers and localized magnetic moments connected with paramagnetic ions. Electronic properties of SMS have been the subject of intensive studies since early seventies. Due to the strong spin exchange interaction between mobile carriers and localized magnetic moments (the exchange constant of the sp-d interaction is of the order of 1 eV for II-VI SMS), significant changes of the band structure and behavior of carriers were observed. A number of new physical phenomena were discovered, such as giant Faraday rotation, the magnetic field induced metal-insulator transition, the bound magnetic polaron, the quantum thermomagnetic oscillations. Magnetic properties of SMS are the subject of studies since about 1980. Investigations of the influence of electron subsystem on magnetic properties of SMS are connected with the observation of a ferromagnetic phase in PbSnMnTe induced by carrier concentration – 1986, and other more subtle effects as magnetic polaron.

About 10 years later, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown GaAs with Mn opened a new chapter of III-V SMS showing ferromagnetic behavior with the highest transition temperature TC = 140 K. In 1987, the first paper devoted to layered structure and magnetic properties of low dimensional (LD) SMS was published starting intensive studies of superlattices and other LD structures made of SMS.

Downloads

Published

2018-12-04

How to Cite

1.
GAŁĄZKA R. SEMIMAGNETIC SEMICONDUCTORS. TUJ-BA [Internet]. 2018Dec.4 [cited 2024Nov.24];27(2). Available from: https://journal.tishreen.edu.sy/index.php/bassnc/article/view/4974

Issue

Vol. 27 No. 2 (2005): العلوم الأساسية

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The authors retain the copyright and grant the right to publish in the magazine for the first time with the transfer of the commercial right to the Tishreen University Journal -Basic Sciences Series  

 Under a CC BY- NC-SA 04 license that allows others to share the work with of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors can use a copy of their articles in their scientific activity, and on their scientific websites, provided that the place of publication is indicted in Tishreen University Journal -Basic Sciences Series .  The Readers have the right to send, print and subscribe to the initial version of the article, and the title of Tishreen University Journal -Basic Sciences Series   Publisher

 

journal uses a CC BY-NC-SA license which mean

You are free to:

  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
  •  
  • The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

 

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  • ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
  • No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.