Influences of post-heat treatment on microstructures, optical and magnetic properties of unintentionally doped GaN epilayers implanted with Mn ions

Abstract

In this study, GaN:Mn thin films are fabricated by implementing Mn ions into the undoped GaN material. The effects of annealing temperature on microstructures, optical and magnetic properties of the thin films are investigated. The Raman spectra measured from Mn-implanted GaN samples at different annealing temperatures show that new phonon modes, which are related to macroscopic disorder or vacancy-related defects caused by Mn-ion implantation and the local vibrational mode of Mn atoms in the (Ga, Mn)N, are created. The results of photoluminescence measurement show that new peaks appear at 2.16, 2.53, and 2.92 eV. Among these, the new emission around 2.16 eV, besides some contributions from optical transitions from the conduction band or shallow donor to a deep acceptor, cannot exclude the contribution from optical transitions of free electrons in the conduction band to Mn acceptor level. The Hall test shows that the annealed samples are of n type. Ferromagnetism is observed in the Mn doped GaN thin film at 300 K and found to be sensitive to the density of holes that mediate the Mn-Mn magnetic exchange interaction in this Mn-related impurity band.