Spin disorder scattering mechanism of ferromagnetic Ga1−xMnxAs layers on (100) GaAs substrates

Abstract

The temperature-dependent Hall resistivity and carrier concentrations of Ga1−xMnxAs epilayers grown on (100) semi-insulating GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy have been investigated in the temperature range of 10–300 K. A Ga1−xMnxAs sample with x≈4.4% shows typical insulator behavior and Ga1−xMnxAs samples with x≈2.2 and 3.7 % show typical metallic behavior. A model taking into account ionized impurity and spin disorder scattering mechanisms was used to portray properly the observed features of the temperature-dependent Hall resistivity data. The value of the p-d exchange energy was J=59.4±0.5 and 71.9±0.5 eV Å3 for the samples with x≈2.2 and 3.7 %, respectively. Ionized impurity scattering dominates the entire temperature range, with a temperature-independent spin disorder scattering in the paramagnetic region. It was found that the spin disorder scattering mechanism had a strong temperature dependence on 1−T2 in the ferromagnetic region.