Metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy of crystallographically oriented MnP magnetic nanoclusters embedded in GaP(001)

Abstract

Hybrid ferromagnetic-semiconductor GaP:MnP thin films were grown at 650 °C by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy on GaP(001) using trimethylgallium, tertiarybutylphosphine, and methyl cyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MCTMn). Overall Mn concentrations in the hybrid films, determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, were found to be nearly proportional to the MCTMn precursor gas flow rate and ranged from 2 to 3.5 at. %. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses revealed the presence of a homogeneous distribution of 15–30 nm wide nanoclusters in a dislocation-free GaP matrix that is fully coherent with the substrate. The nanocluster facets are predominantly aligned along the (220) planes of the GaP matrix and selected-area electron diffraction patterns in TEM indicate that the nanoclusters are coherent (or semicoherent) with the single-crystal GaP matrix. The Mn:P composition ratio in the nanoclusters was determined to be 1.00±0.05 from parallel electron energy loss spectroscopy analyses. Increasing the MCTMn flow rate during film growth resulted in an increased concentration of MnP nanoclusters in the epilayer while their dimensions remained virtually unchanged. Magnetometric characterization indicates a ferromagnetic order, with a Curie temperature of about 294 K, originating from the MnP clusters.