Mining for high T-c ferromagnetism in ion-implanted dilute magnetic semiconductors

Ion implantation is a valuable tool for introducing transition metal Ions Such as Cr, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni into a variety of semiconductors Including AlN, GaN, GaP and SIC. High-transition-temperature ferromagnetic behaviour is found to be the rule rather than the exception. Implantation combined with magnetic screening techniques to determine hysteretic transition temperatures provides an effective procedure for rapidly determining whether particular combinations of magnetic dopants and host semiconductors are likely to display high-temperature ferromagnetic properties. Recent results on Cr, Mn and Co implanted into wide-bandgap AlN are presented and discussed with respect to their promise as carrier-mediated ferromagnets that might be useful For spintronics applications.