Microstructure and ferromagnetism of heavily Mn doped SiGe thin flims*

Abstract

Heavily Mn-doped SiGe thin films were grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering and then treated by post-growth thermal annealing. Structural characterizations reveal the coexistence of Mn-diluted SiGe crystals and Mn-rich nanoclusters in the annealed films. Magnetic measurements indicate the ferromagnetic ordering of the annealed samples above room temperature . The data suggest that the ferromagnetism is probably mainly contributed by the Ge-rich nanoclusters and partially contributed by the tensile-strained Mn-diluted SiGe crystals. The results may be useful for room temperature spintronic applications based on group IV semiconductors.