Effects of Annealing on Magnetic Properties of New Ferromagnetic Semiconductor (In, Al, Mn)As.

The effects of low-temperature (210 °C-290 °C) annealing on the microstructure, lattice constant, and magnetic properties of (In0.52Al0.48)0.91Mn0.09As grown by low-temperature molecular-beam epitaxy were studied. The results show that low-temperature annealing has little influence on the crystalline structure and interface quality of (In0.52Al0.48)0.91Mn0.09As epilayer. In contrast, both the lattice constant and Curie temperature of (In0.52Al0.48)0.91Mn0.09As are found to be strongly dependent on the annealing temperature. The lattice constant linearly decreases with increasing annealing temperature; while the Curie temperature increases with increasing annealing temperature up to 250 °C, and then abruptly decreases upon further annealed at 270 °C and 290 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]