Growth of the dilute magnetic semiconductor GaMnN by molecular-beam epitaxy

Growth by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) of the dilute-magnetic alloy GaMnN is reported. The Mn concentration, as determined by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), is found to be linear with increasing Mn-cell temperature up to ∼43at.%Mn. No second phases are observed for Mn levels below 9 at.%. The cubic-phase Mn4N is found to be the thermodynamically stable phase at the growth conditions used to produce GaMnN. Hysteresis in M versus H is observed in both GaMnN and GaMnN:C grown on both sapphire and metal-oxide chemical-vapor deposition (MOCVD) GaN at several growth temperatures. Magnetotransport results show the anomalous Hall effect, negative magnetoresistance, and magnetic hysteresis, indicating that Mn is incorporating into the GaN and forming the ferromagnetic-semiconductor GaMNN. Room-temperature hysteresis is obtained in magnetization measurements with an optimum Mn concentration of ∼3 at.%.