Manganese phosphide thin films and nanorods grown on gallium phosphide and on glass substrates

Abstract

We report a simple and fast route to grow ferromagnetic manganese phosphide polycrystalline films and nanorods on GaP and on glass substrates using metalorganic vapor phase deposition. Increasing the growth temperature (≥600°C) and growth time (≥30min) results in nucleation of secondary MnP crystals on the primary grains. The secondary crystals grow faster along a specific direction of orthorhombic MnP (c-axis) and form long rods (up to ~10μm) whose diameters are in the nanoscale (20–100nm). The nanorods can be easily detached from the glass substrate. The films exhibit ferromagnetic behavior with a range of transition temperatures, depending on the growth conditions.