Characterization of InMnSb epitaxial films for spintronics

Abstract

Dilute (III, Mn)V ferromagnetic magnetic semiconductors have potential applications in spintronic devices as magnetic field sensors, spin transistors and reconfigurable logic devices. For such applications ferromagnetism at room temperature is a practical requirement. Previous work has shown that In1−xMnxSb films grown on GaAs (100) substrates by atmospheric pressure metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy were single phase and had high temperature ferromagnetism for Mn concentrations up to 2%. Here we present a study of InMnSb thin films at higher Mn concentration (10 at%) showing ferromagnetic properties at room temperature. Aberration corrected and analytical (scanning) transmission electron microscopy techniques were used to study the structure and elemental distribution of the In1−xMnxSb/GaAs system. The crystalline quality of the film and the presence of phase separation is evaluated in the context of a cluster-mediated ferromagnetism model.