
- Journal of Semiconductors
- Vol. 40, Issue 8, 080301 (2019)
Abstract
The discovery of ferromagnetism in some europium chalcogenides and chromium spinels a half of the century ago[
Soon after their discovery, magnetic semiconductors were found to exhibit outstanding properties, including colossal magnetoresistance and magnetooptical effects, assigned rightly to the exchange interaction of band carriers and localized spins. This sd–f coupling results in a giant spin splitting of bands below TC, as well as in magnetization fluctuations near TC generated by band carriers[
More recently, EuS and related ferromagnetic insulators have been proposed as functional overlayers that can lead to novel topological properties by exchange splitting of interfacial bands via a ferromagnetic proximity effect[
Another class of materials that attract considerable attention are van der Waals magnetic semiconductors studied down to the atomically thin limit[
This material family was initially named semimagnetic semiconductors[
Most of the end binary compounds, for instance MnSe and EuTe, are insulating antiferromagnets and, therefore, attract attention from the point of view of antiferromagnetic spintronics. Another ultimate limit of dilute magnetic semiconductors is represented by qubit systems consisting of single magnetic ions in single quantum dots[
In these systems, a high density of delocalized or weakly localized holes leads to long-range ferromagnetic interactions between transition metal cations, which dominate over the antiferromagnetic superexchange, and are well described by the p–d Zener model[
Ground breaking spintronic functionalities have been demonstrated and theoretically described for (Ga,Mn)As and related systems[
As mentioned, the Goodenough-Kanamori-Anderson rules indicates in which cases superexchange can lead to ferromagnetic short-range coupling between localized spins. According to experimental and theoretical studies, such a mechanism operates for Mn3+ ions in GaN and accounts for TC values reaching about 13 K at x ≈10 % in semi-insulating wurtzite Ga1–xMnxN[
The significant inversion symmetry breaking specific to wurtzite semiconductors and the insulating character of the system allow controlling the magnetization by an electric field via a piezoelectromagnetic coupling in (Ga,Mn)N. As shown experimentally and confirmed theoretically[
In these systems[
Furthermore, inverted band ordering specific to topological matter enhances the role of the long-range interband Bloembergen-Rowland contribution to spin-spin interactions, resulting in higher spin-glass freezing temperatures Tf in topological semimetals, such as (Cd,Mn)3As2 and (Hg,Mn)Te, compared to topologically trivial II–VI Mn-based dilute magnetic semiconductors[
It becomes increasingly clear that spatial inhomogeneities in the magnetization distribution account for a number of key properties of magnetic semiconductors, including the magnitude of TC. We discuss here three distinct mechanisms accounting for the non-uniform distribution of magnetization and describe their consequences.
(1) According to the percolation theory applicable to dilute systems with short-range spin-spin interactions, critical temperature TC corresponds to the formation of a percolative cluster that incorporates typically about 16% of the spins in the 3D case. This cluster extends over all spins at T = 0, implying that at T > 0 ferromagnetism co-exists with superparamagnetism produced by not percolative clusters[
(2) A specific feature of conducting magnetic semiconductors is the interplay of carrier-mediated ferromagnetism with carrier localization, which results in spatial fluctuations of magnetization and superparamagnetic signatures generated by the critical fluctuations in the carrier density of states in the vicinity of the metal-to-insulator transition. This effect has been extensively discussed in the context of both ferromagnetic[
(3) The magnetic properties discussed above have concerned systems with a random distribution of cation-substitutional magnetic impurities. A major challenge in dilute magnetic materials is the crucial dependence of their properties on the spatial distribution of magnetic ions and their position in the crystal lattice. These nanoscale structural characteristics depend, in turn, on the growth and processing protocols, as well as on doping with shallow impurities[
Semiconductors and insulators doped with magnetic impurities, in addition to showing fascinating physics, have well established applications as semi-insulating substrates and layers, and as building-blocks for solid state lasers, optical insulators, and detectors of high energy photons. More recent works have revealed surprising materials science features, such as a dependence of the spatial distribution of magnetic impurities on the Fermi level position. At the same time, studies of dilute ferromagnetic semiconductors have led to discoveries of breakthrough functionalities, like for instance spin-orbit torque and magnetization manipulation by an electric field, which are on the way of recasting the concept of computer hardware. The rise of magnetic quantum materials opens for magnetic semiconductors a new chapter involving magnetic proximity effects, functionalities of topological boundary states, and the control of van der Waals heterostructures. It is justified to expect that research in semiconductors, insulators, and organic materials containing magnetic constituents, and particularly in their multilayers and quantum structures, will continue to generate unanticipated and inspiring discoveries in the years to come.
Acknowledgements
The work of T. D. is supported by the Foundation for Polish Science through the IRA Programme financed by EU within SG OP Programme. A. B. acknowledges a support by the Austrian Science Foundation – FWF (P31423 and P26830) and by the Austrian Exchange Service (ÖAD) Project PL-01/2017.
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