B. A. Aronzon

Anomalous Hall effect in granular Fe/SiO2 films in the tunneling-conduction regime

It is established that the Hall effect in Fe/SiO2 nanocomposite films in the activational tunneling conduction range is anomalous, i.e., the Hall resistivity ρh is proportional to the magnetization and is due to the spin-orbit interaction. The parametric coupling of the Hall and longitudinal (ρxx) resistances ρh ∝ ρxxm (with temperature as the parameter) is characterized by a much lower value of the exponent m than in a uniform ferromagnetic metal. This circumstance is attributed to the characteristic features of the Hall effect mechanism in the hopping regime — in our case, the interference of the amplitudes of tunneling transitions in a set of three granules.

Ferromagnetism of low-dimensional Mn-doped III-V semiconductor structures in the vicinity of the insulator-metal transition

The structural and transport properties of GaAs/Mn/GaAs/InxGa1−xAs/GaAs quantum wells (x≈0.2) with Mn δ-layer (4–10 at. %), separated from the well by a GaAs spacer, have been studied. The hole mobility in the investigated structures has exceeded the values known for magnetic III-V heterostructures by two orders of magnitude. For structures with the conductivity of the metal type, we have succeeded to observe at low temperatures Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations just confirming the two dimensionality (2D) of the hole energy spectrum. Exactly those 2D holes promote the ferromagnetic ordering of the Mn layer. That has been proven by (i) observing maxima (at 25–40 K) in temperature dependencies of the resistance, which positions agree with calculated values of Curie temperatures (for structures with the indirect interaction of Mn atoms via 2D holes), and (ii) revealing the negative spin-dependent magnetoresistance (NMR) as well as the anomalous Hall effect (AHE), which values are also in good agreement with cal...

High-temperature ferromagnetism in Si1 − xMnx (x ≈ 0.5) nonstoichiometric alloys

It has been found that the Curie temperature (TC ≈ 300 K) in nonstoichiometric Si1 − xMnx alloys slightly enriched in Mn (x ≈ 0.52–0.55) in comparison to the stoichiometric manganese monosilicide MnSi becomes about an order of magnitude higher than that in MnSi (TC ∼ 30 K). Deviations from stoichiometry lead to a drastic decrease in the density of charge carries (holes), whereas their mobility at about 100 K becomes an order of magnitude higher than the value characteristic of MnSi. The high-temperature ferromagnetism is ascribed to the formation of defects with the localized magnetic moments and by their indirect exchange interaction mediated by the paramagnetic fluctuations of the hole spin density. The existence of defects with the localized magnetic moments in Si1 − xMnx alloys with x ≈ 0.52–0.55 is supported by the results of numerical calculations performed within the framework of the local-density-functional approximation. The increase in the hole mobility in the nonstoichiometric material is attributed to the decay of the Kondo (or spin-polaron) resonances presumably existing in MnSi.

Anomalous hall effect in Mn δ-doped GaAs/In0.17Ga0.83As/GaAs quantum wells with high hole mobility

Magnetic and magnetotransport properties of GaAs(δ〈Mn〉)/In0.17Ga0.83As/GaAs quantum wells with different Mn concentrations are studied. The delta-doped manganese layer has been separated from the GaAs quantum well with a spacer with an optimal thickness (3 nm), which has provided a sufficiently high hole mobility (≥103 cm2V−1 s−1) in the quantum wells and their effective exchange with Mn atoms. It is found that the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) is exhibited only in a restricted temperature range above and below the Curie temperature, while the AHE is not observed in quantum wells with quasi-metallic conductivity. Thus, it is shown that the use of the AHE is inefficient in studying magnetic ordering in semiconductor systems with high-mobility carriers. The features observed in the behavior of the resistance, magnetoresistance, and Hall effect are discussed in terms of the interaction of holes with magnetic Mn ions with regard to fluctuations of their potential, hole transport on the percolation level, and hopping conduction.

Epr study of exchange interactions of manganese ions in a CdGeAs2 matrix

The results of an EPR study of the CdGeAs2 compound doped with 6 at % Mn are reported. The experimental data are analyzed under the assumption that magnetic centers of the following two types are formed in the system: MnCd, Mn ions that replace Cd2+ and have spin S = 5/2, and MnGe, Mn ions that replace Ge4+ and form the Mn2+ + 2p complex with two “heavy” holes with spin S = 1/2. The absence of signals from isolated centers and the Lorentzian shape of an absorption curve suggest a strong exchange narrowing of the spectrum and the extension of an isotropic exchange interaction involving MnGe to distances much longer than the lattice parameter. It is found that the exchange interaction between Mn2+ + 2p complexes is ferromagnetic, and it is stronger than the characteristic superexchange interaction involving MnCd centers by three to four orders of magnitude. The form of the temperature dependence of susceptibility obtained by the double integration of spectra is indicative of the formation of nanoscale regions, which weakly interact with each other, with ferromagnetically ordered Mn2+ + 2p complexes at ∼250 K.

Concentration dependence of the anomalous Hall effect in Fe/SiO2 granular films below the percolation threshold

The anomalous Hall effect is studied on Fex(SiO2)1−x nanocomposite films with x<0.7 in the vicinity of the percolation transition (xc≈0.6). It is found that, as the transition is approached from the side of metallic conduction, the Hall angle nonmonotonically varies, passing through a minimum. A qualitative model for describing the concentration dependence of the anomalous Hall effect is proposed. The model is based on that of the conductivity of a two-phase system near the percolation threshold [9, 10]. The anomalous Hall effect is governed by two conduction channels: one of them (a conducting network) is formed by large metal clusters that are separated by narrow dielectric interlayers below the percolation threshold, and the other is represented by the dielectric part of the medium containing Fe grains; in this part of the medium, the anomalous Hall effect occurs through the interference of amplitudes from the tunneling junctions in a set of three grains. It is shown that, at x<xc, the network may give rise to a “shunting” effect, which makes the effective Hall voltage even less than the Hall voltage of the dielectric component.

Phase relations in analysis of glancing incidence X-ray rocking curves from superlattices

Nontrivial features of the formation of glancing incidence x-ray rocking curves from superlattices are revealed and analyzed for the magnetic digital alloy GaSb/15(Mn/GaSb)/GaAs. The qualitative analysis of the shape of the experimental curve in the framework of specific phase relations in the reflection amplitude makes it possible not only to describe these features, in particular, the two-humped profile of the first Bragg peak and to reconstruct the real structure of the alloys under investigation, but also to develop the general scheme for analyzing x-ray rocking curves from imperfect superlattices.

Conductivity, magnetoresistance, and the Hall effect in granular Fe/SiO2 films

We have investigated the conductance, magnetoresistance, and Hall effect in granular Fe/SiO2 films with size of the iron grains around 40 Å, whose volume fraction x lies in the range 0.3–0.7. The conduction activation regime has been established for x<0.6. On the insulator side of the transition we observed a giant negative magnetoresistance, falling off sharply as the metal volume fraction decreases. For x<0.4 we observed a large positive magnetoresistance of premagnetized samples, showing up in fields; ∼100 Oe and characterized by large response times. The field dependence of the Hall effect in the dielectric samples, as in the metallic samples, correlates with their magnetization. We found that the Hall resistance is proportional to the square root of the longitudinal resistance, which cannot be explained by known models of the anomalous Hall effect.

Planar Hall effect and anisotropic magnetoresistance in layered structures Co0.45Fe0.45Zr0.1/a-Si with percolation conduction

Magnetic and magnetotransport properties of multilayered nanostructures Co0.45Fe0.45Zr0.1/a-Si obtained by ion-beam sputtering are investigated. The temperature dependence of the resistance obeys a law of the form Rxx ∝-logT, which is typical of metal-insulator nanocomposites on the metal side of the percolation transition. The magnetoresistance anisotropy effect, as well as the planar Hall effect, is observed for the first time for this type of nanocomposites in the vicinity of the percolation transition. The correlation of these two effects with the transverse (between Hall probes) magnetoresistive effect, which may reach 6–9%, is revealed. A weak negative magnetoresistance of the order of 0.15%, which is observed for subnanometer amorphous silicon layer thicknesses, is attributed to spin-dependent electron transitions between adjacent ferromagnetic layers in the case when the exchange interaction between these layers is of the antiferromagnetic type.

Potential barrier formation at a metal-semiconductor contact using selective removal of atoms

The possibility of forming a potential profile in a semiconductor by forming a metal film on its surface via selective removal of oxygen atoms from a deposited metal oxide layer was studied. Selective removal of atoms (SRA) was performed using a beam of accelerated protons with an energy of about 1 keV. Epitaxially grown GaAs films with a thickness of ∼100 nm and an electron concentration of 2×1017 cm−3 were chosen as the semiconductor material, and W obtained from WO3 was used as the metal. The potential profile appeared due to the formation of a Schottky barrier at the metal-semiconductor interface. It was found that the Schottky barrier formed at W/GaAs contacts made by the SRA method is noticeably higher (∼1 eV) than the barrier formed at the contacts made by conventional metal deposition (0.8 eV for W/GaAs). The data presented indicate that there is no damaged layer in the gate region of the structures, which is most strongly affected by the proton irradiation. Specifically, it was shown that the electron mobility in this region equals the mobility in bulk GaAs with the same doping level.