Uniform annealing effect of electron irradiation on ferromagnetic GaMnAs thin films

Abstract

For more than a decade, researchers have been searching for means to improve the Curie temperature of ferromagnetic GaMnAs samples, among which post-growth annealing in furnace has been treated as the most important one. In this work, we demonstrate that the Curie temperature can be improved by electron irradiation for the first time. Different doses of electron irradiation (1×1014,1×1015 and1×1016electrons/cm2) at 1.7MeV were applied, the enhancement of magnetic and electrical properties of ferromagnetic GaMnAs films was experimentally confirmed by HR-XRD, SQUID and Magneto-transport measurements. Further SIMS characterizations and analyses reveal that electron irradiation causes bi-directional out-diffusion and redistribution of compensating Mn interstitials towards both the upper surface and the lower interface, a newly found uniform effect clearly different from that of conventional post-growth annealing. The technique of electron irradiation annealing may provide an alternative way to improve the properties of electronic and magnetic compounds such as GaMnAs films.