V. V. Ryl’kov

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anomalous Hall effect in highly Mn-Doped silicon films

The transport and magnetic properties of MnxSi1 − x films with a high (x ≈ 0.35) content of Mn produced by laser deposition at growth temperatures of 300–350°C have been studied in a temperature range of 5–300 K in magnetic fields of up to 2.5 T. The films exhibit a hole-type metallic conductivity and a relatively weak change of magnetization in a temperature range of 50–200 K. An anomalous Hall effect with an essentially hysteretic behavior from 50 K up to ≈230 K has been discovered. The properties of the films are explained by the two-phase model, in which ferromagnetic clusters containing interstitial Mn ions with a localized magnetic moment are embedded in the matrix of a weak band MnSi2 − x (x ≈ 0.3) type ferromagnet with delocalized spin density.

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.

Logarithmic temperature dependence of electrical resistivity of (Co41Fe39B20)x(Al–O)100 – x nanocomposites

The temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity σ(T) of (Co41Fe39B20)x(Al–O)100–x of nanocomposite films for different concentrations x of amorphous ferromagnetic metal (56 > x > 30) has been studied in the temperature range of 4.2–300 K. It has been shown that, for concentrations in the interval 56 > x > 49, the conductivity obeys the logarithmic law σ(T) = A(1 + αlnT), where A and α depend on the concentration. According to the theory developed by Efetov et al., this logarithmic dependence is connected with specificities of the Coulomb interaction in nanogranulated alloys on the intergranule tunneling in the transient region of concentrations from metallic conduction to the dielectric regime. The comparison of the theory with the experiment has revealed only qualitative agreement. The reasons of the quantitative disagreement have been discussed. The resistivity of samples with the concentrations lying in the range 49 > x > 30 obeys the 1/2 power law.

Properties of Structures Based on Laser-Plasma Mn-Doped GaAs and Grown by MOC-Hydride Epitaxy

A method of doping GaAs with Mn using the laser evaporation of a metal target during MOC-hydride epitaxy is developed. The method is used to form both homogeneously doped GaAs:Mn layers and two-dimensional structures, including a δ-doped GaAs:Mn layer and a InxGa1−xAs quantum well separated by a GaAs spacer with a thickness of d= 3–6 nm. It is shown that, at room temperature, the formed structures have magnetic and magnetooptical properties most probably caused by the presence of MnAs clusters. In the low-temperature region (∼ 30 K), the anomalous Hall effect is observed. This effect is attributed to the exchange interaction between Mn ions via 2D-channel holes.

Properties of InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells with a δ〈Mn〉-doped layer in GaAs

A method of formation of two-dimensional structures containing a δ〈Mn〉-doped layer in GaAs and an InxGa1−x As quantum well (QW) separated by a GaAs spacer of thickness d = 4–6 nm is developed using laser evaporation of a metallic target during MOS hydride epitaxy. It is shown that, up to room temperature, these structures have ferromagnetic properties most likely caused by MnAs clusters. At low temperatures (Tm ∼ 30 K), the anomalous Hall effect is revealed to occur. This effect is related to hole scattering by Mn ions in GaAs and to the magnetic exchange between these ions and QW holes, which determines the spin polarization of the holes. The behavior of the negative magnetoresistance of these structures at low temperatures indicates the key role of quantum interference effects.

Frenkel’-Poole effect for boron impurity in silicon in strong warming electric fields

A method based on measurement of the thermally stimulated conductivity of a weakly compensated semiconductor, which is doped with a deep impurity and which contains an impurity component that is shallower than the main component, has been developed for investigating the Frenkel’-Poole effect. The results of an investigation of the thermally stimulated conductivity of Si:Ga samples with gallium density NA=(2–3)×1018 cm−3 and low accompanying impurity content (⩽1013 cm−3) are reported. The conductivity was measured after extrinsic photoexcitation of samples heated at a rate β=0.6 K/s in the temperature range T=4.2–24 K in electric fields E=20–1000 V/cm. It is shown that the maximum on the curves of the thermally stimulated conductivity is due to the thermally stimulated emptying of the boron impurity and shifts to lower values of T as E increases. The decrease of the ionization energy of impurity B in an electric field, which turns out to be somewhat weaker than the field according to the Frenkel’-Poole model for singly charged Coulomb centers, is found from the shift of the maximum.