Enhancement of the Curie temperature of ferromagnetic semiconductor(Ga,Mn)As

In this review article,we review the progress made in the past several years mainly regarding the efforts devoted to increasing the Curie temperature(T C) of(Ga,Mn)As,which is most widely considered as the prototype ferromagnetic semiconductor.Heavy Mn doping,nanostructure engineering and post-growth annealing which increase T C are described in detail.     

Annealing effect on magnetic anisotropy in ultrathin（Ga,Mn）As

We investigated the effect of low temperature annealing on magnetic anisotropy in 7-nm ultrathin Ga0.94Mn0.06As devices by measuring the angle-dependent planar Hall resistance(PHR).Obvious hysteresis loops were observed during the magnetization reversal through the clockwise and counterclockwise rotations under low magnetic fields(below 1000 Gs,1 Gs = 10-4 T),which can be explained by competition between Zeeman energy and magnetic anisotropic energy.It is found that the uniaxial anisotropy is dominant in the whole measured ferromagnetic range for both the as-grown ultrathin Ga0.94Mn0.06As and the annealed one.The cubic anisotropy changes more than the uniaxial anisotropy in the measured temperature ranges after annealing.This gives a useful way to tune the magnetic anisotropy of ultrathin(Ga,Mn)As devices.     

A Green＇s function model for ferromagnetism and spin excitations of （Ga,Mn）As diluted magnetic semiconductors

We study (Ga, Mn)As diluted magnetic semiconductors in terms of the Ruderman--Kittel--Kasuya--Yosida quantum spin model in Green's function approach. Random distributions of the magnetic atoms are treated by using an analytical average of magnetic configurations. Average magnetic moments and spin excitation spectra as functions of temperature can be obtained by solving self-consistent equations, and the Curie temperature T_C is given explicitly. T_C is proportional to magnetic atomic concentration, and there exists a maximum for T_C as a function of carrier concentration. Applied to (Ga, Mn)As, the theoretical results are consistent with experiment and the experimental T_C can be obtained with reasonable parameters. This modelling can also be applied to other diluted magnetic semiconductors.     

Magnetic phase transition and the corresponding magnetostriction of intermetallic compounds RMnsGe2（R=Sm,Gd）

The temperature dependence of lattice constants a and c of intermetallic compounds RMn₂Ge₂ (R=Sm, Gd) is measured in the temperature range 10－800K by using the x-ray diffraction method. The magnetoelastic anomalies of lattice constants are found at the different kinds of spontaneous magnetic transitions. The transversal and longitudinal magnetostrictions of polycrystalline samples are measured in the pulse magnetic field up to 25T. In the external magnetic field there occurs a first-order field-induced antiferromagnetism－ferromagnetism transition in the Mn sublattice, which gives rise to a large magnetostriction. The magnitude of magnetostrictions is as large as 10^-3. The transversal and longitudinal magnetostrictions have the same sign and are almost equal. This indicates that the magnetostriction is isotropic and mainly caused by the interlayer Mn－Mn exchange interaction. The experimental results are explained in the framework of a two-sublattice ferrimagnet with the negative exchange interaction in one of the sublattices by taking into account the lattice constant dependence of interlayer Mn－Mn exchange interaction.     

Crystal structure and magnetic properties of disordered alloy ErGa_(3-x)Mn_x

ErGa_(3-x)Mn_x disordered alloy is successfully prepared by the vacuum arc melting technology, and the crystal structure and magnetic properties are investigated by using the x-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements. The Rietveld structural analysis indicates that the ErGa_(3-x)Mn_x crystallizes into a cubic structure with space group of Pm3m in Mn doping range of x = 0–0.1. However, the disordered alloy with structural formula of Er_(0.8)Ga_2~Ⅰ(Ga~Ⅱ, Mn)0.4 as the second phase is separated from cubic phase for the samples with x = 0.2 and 0.3, which is induced by substituting the(Ga~Ⅱ, Mn)–(Ga~Ⅱ, Mn) pair at 2e crystal position for the rare earth Er at 1 a site. The lattice parameters tend to increase with Mn content increasing due to the size effect at Ga(1.30°A) site by substituting Mn(1.40°A) for Ga. The paramagnetic characteristic is observed by doping Mn into ErGa_3 at room temperature. With Mn content increasing from x = 0 to 0.1, the magnetic susceptibility χtends to increase. This phenomenon can be due to the increase of effective potential induced by doping Mn into ErGa_3.However, the magnetic susceptibility χ continues to decrease with the increase of Mn content in a range of x 0.2, which is due to the phase separation from the cubic Er(Ga, Mn)_3 to the hexagonal Er_(0.8)Ga_2(Ga, Mn)_(0.4).     

Influence of annealing treatment on as-grown Ib-type diamond crystal at a high temperature and high pressure

In this paper,we report on the influence of annealing treatment on as-grown Ib-type diamond crystal under high pressure and high temperature in a china-type cubic anvil high-pressure apparatus.Experiments are carried out at a pressure of 7.0 GPa and temperatures ranging from 1700 C to 1900 C for 1 h.Annealing treatment of the diamond crystal shows that the aggregation rate constant of nitrogen atoms in the as-grown Ib-type diamond crystal strongly depends on diamond morphology and annealing temperature.The aggregation rate constant of nitrogen remarkably increases with the increase of annealing temperature and its value in octahedral diamond is much higher than that in cubic diamond annealed at the same temperature.The colour of octahedral diamond crystal is obviously reduced from yellow to nearly colorless after annealing treatment for 1 h at 1900 C,which is induced by nitrogen aggregation in a diamond lattice.The extent of nitrogen aggregation in an annealed diamond could approach approximately 98% indicated from the infrared absorption spectra.The micro-Raman spectrum reveals that the annealing treatment can improve the crystalline quality of Ib-type diamond characterized by a half width at full maximum at first order Raman peak,and therefore the annealed diamond crystals exhibit nearly the same properties as the natural IaA-type diamond stones of high quality in the Raman measurements.     

The electrical, optical properties of AlSb polycrystalline thin films deposited by magnetron co-sputtering without annealing

In order to fabricate AlSb polycrystalline thin films without post annealing, this paper studies a technology of magnetron co-sputtering onto intentionally heated substrate. It compares the structural characteristics and electrical properties of AlSb films which are deposited at different substrate temperatures. It finds that the films prepared at a substrate temperature of 450 oC exhibit an enhanced grain growth with an average grain size of 21 nm and the lattice constant is 0.61562 nm that goes well with unstained lattice constant (0.61355 nm). The ln(σ_dark) ～1/T curves show that the conductivity activation energy is about 0.38 eV when the film is deposited at 450 oC without an annealing. The transmittance and reflectance spectra show that the film deposited at 450 oC has an optical band gap of 1.6 eV. These results indicate that we have prepared AlSb polycrystalline films which do not need a post annealing.     

Characterization of the BaBiO3-doped BaTiO3 positive temperature coefficient of a resistivity ceramic using impedance spectroscopy with Tc=155℃

BaBiO 3-doped BaTiO3(BB-BT) ceramic,as a candidate for lead-free positive temperature coefficient of resistivity (PTCR) materials with a higher Curie temperature,has been synthesized in air by a conventional sintering technique. The temperature dependence of resistivity shows that the phase transition of the PTC thermistor ceramic occurs at the Curie temperature,Tc=155℃,which is higher than that of BaTiO3(≤130℃). Analysis of ac impedance data using complex impedance spectroscopy gives the alternate current (AC) resistance of the PTCR ceramic. By additional use of the complex electric modulus formalism to analyse the same data,the inhomogeneous nature of the ceramic may be unveiled. The impedance spectra reveal that the grain resistance of the BB-BT sample is slightly influenced by the increase of temperature,indicating that the increase in overall resistivity is entirely due to a grain-boundary effect. Based on the dependence of the extent to which the peaks of the imaginary part of electric modulus and impedance are matched on frequency,the conduction mechanism is also discussed for a BB-BT ceramic system.     

Effect of high temperature annealing on strain and band gap of GaN nanoparticles

Black-coloured GaN nanoparticles with an average grain size of 50 nm have been obtained by annealing GaN nanoparticles under flowing nitrogen at 1200 oC for 30 min. XRD measurement result indicates an increase in the lattice parameter of the GaN nanoparticles annealed at 1200 oC, and HRTEM image shows that the increase cannot be ascribed to other ions in the interstitial positions. If the as-synthesised GaN nanoparticles at 950 oC are regarded as standard, the thermal expansion changes nonlinearly with temperature and is anisotropic; the expansion below 1000oC is smaller than that above 1000 oC. This study provides an experimental demonstration for selecting the proper annealing temperature of GaN. In addition, a large blueshift in optical bandgap of the annealed GaN nanoparticles at 1200 oC is observed, which can be ascribed to the dominant transitions from the C(Γ₇) with the peak energy at 3.532 eV.     

Effects of post-sinter annealing on microstructure and magnetic properties of Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets with Nd–Ga intergranular addition

We investigate the effects of post-sinter annealing on the microstructure and magnetic properties in B-lean Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets with different quantities of Nd–Ga intergranular additions. The magnet with fewer Nd–Ga additions can enhance 0.2 T in coercivity, with its remanences nearly unchanged after annealing. With the further increase of the Nd–Ga addition, the annealing process leads coercivity to increase 0.4 T, accompanied by a slight decrease of remanence. With the Nd–Ga addition further increasing and after annealing, however, the increase of coercivity is basically constant and the change of remanence is reduced. Microstructure observation indicates that the matrix grains are covered by continuous thin grain boundary phase in the magnets with an appropriate Nd–Ga concentration after the annealing process. However, the exceeding Nd–Ga addition brings out notable segregation of grain boundary phase, and prior formation of part RE6 Fe13 Ga phase in the sintered magnet. This prior formation results in a weaker change of remanence after the annealing process.Therefore, the diverse changes of magnetic properties with different Nd–Ga concentrations are based on the respective evolution of grain boundary after the annealing process.     

Barrier Enhancement Effect of Postannealing in Oxygen Ambient on Ni/AIGaN Schottky Contacts

Al0.2 Ga0.8N/GaN samples are grown by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition （MOCVD） method on （0001） sapphire substrates. A 10nm-thick Ni layer is deposited on AlGaN as the transparent Schottky contact. The effect of postannealing in oxygen ambient on the electrical properties of Ni/AlGaN is studied by current-voltage- temperature （I-V-T） measurement. The annealing at a relatively low temperature of 300℃ for 90 s results in a decrease of the ideality factor from 2.03 to 1.30 and an increase of the Schottky barrier height from 0.77eV to 0.954 e V. The I-V-T analysis confirms the improvement originated from the formation of NiO, a layer with higher resistance, which could passivate the surface states of AlGaN and suppress the tunnelling current. Furthermore, the annealing also leads to an increase of the transmittance of the contacts from 57.5% to 78.2%, which would be favourable for A1GaN-based photodetectors.     

Characterization of Mn—Doped Ba1—xSrxTiO3 Thin Films Prepared by the Sol—Gel Method

Undoped and Mn-doped Ba1-xSrxTiO3(BST) thin films have been fabricated on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si by an aqueous acetate sol-gel method.The BST stock solution can be easily mixed with an aqueous metal ion solution and is stable at room temperature.The annealing temperature of the doped and undoped films is between 650-750℃.The x-ray photoelectron spectra results show that the Mn2p3/2 valence state in the BST is the sampe as that of the original Mn(Ⅱ） dopant,The dielectric constant of the BST thin films can be increased to 800,and the loss tangent can be decreased to 0.01 due to the Mn(Ⅱ） doping.The leakage current of the BST films can also be greatly reduced.     

Surface Carbonization of GaN and the Related Structure Evolution during the Annealing Process

To explain the stabilization mechanism of the carbon-ion-implanted GaN under the diamond growth environment,the luminescence characteristics and structure evolution correlative with sites' carbon atoms located for highfluence carbon-ion-implanted Ga N are discussed. GaN is implanted with carbon ion using fluence of 2×10~(17) cm~(-2) and energy of 45 keV. Then the implanted samples are annealed at 800℃ for 20 min and 1 h under the N_2 atmosphere. The luminescence characteristics of carbon-ion-implanted GaN are evaluated by photoluminescence spectrum at wavelength 325 nm. The lattice damage of Ga N is characterized by Raman spectrum and the corresponding vacancy-defect evolution before and after annealing is measured by slow positron annihilation. The results show that most of the carbon atoms will be located at the interstitial sites after carbon ion implantation due to the weak mobility. As the implanted samples are annealed, strong yellow luminescence is emitted and the vacancies for Ga(V_(Ga)) are reduced resulting from the migration of interstitial carbon(C_i) and formation of complexes(CGaand/or C_(Ga)-C_i) between them. As the annealing time is prolonged, the carbon ions accommodated by the vacancies are saturated, vacancy clusters with carbon atoms appear and the concentration of C_(Ga) diminishes, which will have an adverse effect on the diamond film nucleation and growth.     

Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effects of Mn5Ge3-xGax

We report on the magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effects of Mn5Ge3-xGax compounds with x=0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4,0.6 and 0.9. All samples crystallize in the hexagonal Mn5Si3-type structure with space group P63/mcm and order ferromagnetically.The Curie temperature of these compounds decreases with increasing x, from 306K (x=0.1) to 274K (x=0.9).The average Mn magnetic moments increases with increasing Ga content,reaching a maximum value at x=0.6.The magnetic entropy changes in these compounds are determined from the temperature and field dependence of the magnetization using the thermodynamic Maxwell relation.The Ga substitution has two kinds of influence on the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of Mn5Ge3.One is that the magnitude of the magnetic entropy change decreases,the other is that the MCE peak becomes broadened.     

Heat treatment effects on the superconducting properties of Ag-doped SrKFeAs compounds

The superconducting properties of polycrystalline Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 were strongly influenced by Ag doping(Supercond.Sci.Technol.23(2010) 025027).Ag addition is mainly dominated by silver diffusing,so the annealing process is one of the essential factors to achieve high quality Ag doped Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2.In this paper,the optimal annealing conditions were studied for Ag doped Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 bulks prepared by a one-step solid reaction method.It is found that the annealing temperature has a strong influence on the superconducting properties,especially on the critical current density Jc.As a result,higher heat treatment temperature(~900℃) is helpful in diffusing Ag and reducing the impurity phase gathered together to improve the grain connectivity.In contrast,low-temperature sintering is counterproductive for Ag doped samples.These results clearly suggest that annealing at ~900℃ is necessary for obtaining high Jc Ag-doped samples.     

Enhancement of ferromagnetism in polycrystalline Si0.965Mn0.035:B films by boron plasma treatment

This paper reports that the polycrystalline Si0.965Mn0.035:B films have been prepared by cosputtering deposition followed by rapid thermal annealing for crystallization. The polycrystalline thin films consist of two ferromagnetic phases. The low temperature ferromagnetic phase with Curie temperature (Tc) of about 50 K is due to the Mn4Si7 phase in the films, while the high temperature one (Tc～250 K) is resulted from the incorporation of Mn into silicon. The films are treated by boron plasma excited with the approach of microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition for 40 minutes. After plasma treatment, it is observed that no extra magnetic phases or magnetic complexes exist in the films, while both the high temperature saturation magnetization and the hole concentration in the films increase. The obvious correlation between the magnetic properties and the electrical properties of the polycrystalline Si0.965Mn0.035:B films suggests that the hole carriers play an important role in Si:Mn diluted magnetic semiconductors.     

The residual C concentration control for low temperature growth p-type GaN

In this work, the influence of C concentration to the performance of low temperature growth p-GaN is studied.Through analyses, we have confirmed that the C impurity has a compensation effect to p-GaN. At the same time we have found that several growth and annealing parameters have influences on the residual C concentration:(i) the C concentration decreases with the increase of growth pressure;(ii) we have found there exists a Ga memory effect when changing the Cp_2 Mg flow which will lead the growth rate and C concentration increase along the increase of Cp_2 Mg flow;(iii) annealing outside of metal–organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) could decrease the C concentration while in situ annealing in MOCVD has an immobilization role to C concentration.     

Crystal structure and magnetic properties of Nd（Mn1-xFex）2Si2 compounds

X-ray powder diffraction,resistivity and magnetization studies have been performed on polycrystalline Nd(FexMn1-x)2Si2 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) compounds which crystallize in a ThCr2Si2-type structure with the space group I4/mmm.The field-cooled temperature dependence of the magnetization curves shows that,at low temperatures,NdFe2Si2 is antiferromagnetic,while the other compounds show ferromagnetic behaviour.The substitution of Fe for Mn leads to a decrease in lattice parameters a,c and unit-cell volume V .The Curie temperature of the compounds first increases,reaches a maximum around x = 0.7,then decreases with Fe content.However,the saturation magnetization decreases monotonically with increasing Fe content.This Fe concentration dependent magnetization of Nd(FexMn1-x)2Si2 compounds can be well explained by taking into account the complex effect on magnetic properties due to the substitution of Mn by Fe.The temperature’s square dependence on electrical resistivity indicates that the curve of Nd(Fe0.6Mn0.4)2Si2 has a quasi-linear character above its Curie temperature,which is typical of simple metals.     

Structural Characteristics and Photoluminescence of Zinc Oxide Nanocrystals

We have prepared zinc oxide nanocrystals using a new type of solid-state reaction.The nanosized grains were obtained by changing the heat treatment temperature and the sizes were determined to be from 10 to 42 nm.The lattice vibrational Raman spectra were measured and assigned at different grain sizes.We observed a strong visible emission centred at 580 nm in the nanosized ZnO at room temperature.We have investigated the photoluminescence properties under different grain sizes after annealing.The weakening of the luminescence is attributed to the decrease of intrinsic structural defects,mainly,oxygen vacancies and the increase of the grain size in the nanocrystals.     

Effects of O2/Ar ratio and annealing temperature on electrical properties of Ta2O5 film prepared by magnetron sputtering

The effects of the oxygen-argon ratio on electric properties of Ta2O5 film prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering were investigated.The Ta2O5 partially transforms from the amorphous phase into the crystal phase when annealing temperatures are 800℃ or higher.The lattice constant of Ta2O5 decreases with the increase of the O2/Ar ratio,which indicates that oxygen gas in the working gas mixture contributes to reducing the density of oxygen vacancies during the deposition process.For the films deposited in working gas mixtures with different O2/Ar ratios and subsequently annealed at 700℃,the effective dielectric constant is increased from 14.7 to 18.4 with the increase of the O2/Ar ratio from 0 to 1.Considering the presence of an SiO2 layer between the film and the silicon substrate,the optimal dielectric constant of Ta2O5 film was estimated to be 31.Oxygen gas in the working gas mixture contributes to reducing the density of oxygen vacancies,and the oxygen vacancy density and leakage current of Ta2O5 film both decrease with the increase of the O2/Ar ratio.The leakage current decreases after annealing treatment and it is minimized at 700℃.However,when the annealing temperature is 800℃ or higher,it increases slightly,which results from the partially crystallized Ta2O5 layer containing defects such as grain boundaries and vacancies.