Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

The fabrication of ferromagnetic semiconductors is one big step to realize spintronic devices. Beside GaAs:Mn also Ge:Mn is a very interesting material system [1-2].
Moreover, the lattice inversion symmetry of Ge leads to weak spin-orbit interaction and enhanced spin-lifetime and spin-diffusion lengths of more than 100 μ m. This is shown in Ge nanowires at 4.2 K [3].
Also a spin diffusion up to 225 K could be shown in weakly n-doped Ge [4].
In a previous work we investigated ferromagnetism in Ge:Mn thin films. Hysteretic Hall resistance after Mn implantation and short-time pulsed laser annealing (PLA) has been observed [5].
Similar to low temperature molecular beam epitaxy [1], the clustering of Mn inside the material has to be prevented. Especially after PLA, the Mn segregation leads to the formation of a Mn enriched surface layer. In our work, we performed layer by layer magneto-transport measurements after different etching steps. The hysteretic properties are vanishing after removing the segregated Mn-rich phases. In conclusion, we think that the observed hysteretic Hall resistance may have its origin in the scattering of spin-polarized holes on these Mn-rich phases. Such hysteretic transport properties have not yet been reported for Ge with embedded Mn-rich clusters. The vanishing hysteresis at 30 K and above can be interpreted by the increasing decoherence between the individual Mn rich clusters or/and the reduced magnetization of the clusters itself.
[1] M. Jamet et al., Nature Materials 5, 653 (2006) [2] Y.D. Park et al., Science 295, 651 (2002) [3] E. S. Liu et al., Nano Letters 10, 3297 (2010) [4] Y. Zhou et al. arXiv:1103.5095v1 (2011) [5] S. Zhou et al., Phys. Rev. B 81, 165204 (2010)