arXiv subjects

Maciej Sawicki

Publications and source records attributed to Maciej Sawicki.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

In situ compensation method for high-precision and high-sensitivity integral magnetometry

An ongoing process of miniaturization of spintronics and magnetic-films-based devices, as well as a growing necessity for basic material research place stringent requirements for sensitive and accurate magnetometric measurements of minute magnetic constituencies deposited on large magnetically responsive carriers. However, the most popular multipurpose commercial superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometers are not object-selective probes, so the sought signal is usually buried in the magnetic response of the carrier, contaminated by signals from the sample support, system instabilities and additionally degraded by an inadequate data reduction. In this report a comprehensive method based on the in situ magnetic compensation for mitigating all these weak elements of SQUID-based magnetometry is presented. Practical solutions and proper expressions to evaluate the final outcome of the investigations are given. Their universal form allows to employ the suggested design in investigations of a broad range of specimens of different sizes, shapes and compositions. The method does not require any extensive numerical modelling, it relies only on the data taken from the standard magnetometer output. The solution can be straightforwardly implemented in every field where magnetic investigations are of a prime importance, including in particular emerging new fields of topological insulators, 3D-Dirac semimetals and 2D-materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Superconductivity in single-crystalline, aluminum- and gallium-hyperdoped germanium

Superconductivity in group IV semiconductors is desired for hybrid devices combining both semiconducting and superconducting properties. Following boron doped diamond and Si, superconductivity has been observed in gallium doped Ge, however the obtained specimen is in polycrystalline form [Herrmannsdörfer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 217003 (2009)]. Here, we present superconducting single-crystalline Ge hyperdoped with gallium or aluminium by ion implantation and rear-side flash lamp annealing. The maximum concentration of Al and Ga incorporated into substitutional positions in Ge is eight times higher than the equilibrium solid solubility. This corresponds to a hole concentration above 10^21 cm-3. Using density functional theory in the local density approximation and pseudopotential plane-wave approach, we show that the superconductivity in p-type Ge is phonon-mediated. According to the ab initio calculations the critical superconducting temperature for Al- and Ga-doped Ge is in the range of 0.45 K for 6.25 at.% of dopant concentration being in a qualitative agreement with experimentally obtained values.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Nematicity of correlated systems driven by anisotropic chemical phase separation

The origin of nematicity, i.e., in-plane rotational symmetry breaking, and in particular the relative role played by spontaneous unidirectional ordering of spin, orbital, or charge degrees of freedom, is a challenging issue of magnetism, unconventional superconductivity, and quantum Hall effect systems, discussed in the context of doped semiconductor systems, such as Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As, Cu$_x$Bi$_2$Se$_3$, and Ga(Al)As/Al$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$As quantum wells, respectively. Here, guided by our experimental and theoretical results for In$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$As, we demonstrate that spinodal phase separation at the growth surface (that has a lower symmetry than the bulk) can lead to a quenched nematic order of alloy components, which then governs low temperature magnetic and magnetotransport properties, in particular the magnetoresistance anisotropy whose theory for the $C_{2v}$ symmetry group is advanced here. These findings, together with earlier data for Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As, show under which conditions anisotropic chemical phase separation accounts for the magnitude of transition temperature to a collective phase or merely breaks its rotational symmetry. We address the question to what extent the directional distribution of impurities or alloy components setting in during the growth may account for the observed nematicity in other classes of correlated systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Diffusion of Mn in gallium nitride: Experiment and modelling

The control over the structural homogeneity is of paramount importance for ternary nitride compounds - the second most important semiconducting material-class after Si, due to its unrivalled applicability in optoelectronics, and high power/high frequency electronics. Therefore it is timely to investigate possible mechanisms influencing the crystallographic constitution of the material. In this work the diffusion mechanism of manganese in gallium nitride is investigated in two types of epilayers: Mn implanted metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy grown GaN and (Ga,Mn)N solid solution grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The extent of the Mn diffusion is established by secondary ion mass spectrometry. Analysis of the Mn profiles in the implanted samples in the frame of the infinite source diffusion led to the establishment for the first time of the pre-exponential factor DO = 2x10-4 cm2/s and diffusion activation energy EA = 1.8 eV describing the diffusion coefficient of Mn in GaN. Modelling of the out-diffusion of Mn from (Ga,Mn)N layers based on these values in turn allows to provide an explanation of the origin of the ubiquitously observed near-the-surface sizable depletion of Mn in (Ga,Mn)N, resulting from the blocking of the Mn out-diffusion by Mn-oxide and the correspondingly formed space-charge layer on the surface.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Impact of substrate temperature on magnetic properties of plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy grown (Ga,Mn)N

A range of high quality Ga1-xMnxN layers have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy with manganese concentration 0.2 < x < 10%, having the x value tuned by changing the growth temperature (Tg) between 700 and 590 °C, respectively. We present a systematic structural and microstructure characterization by atomic force microscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, powder-like and high resolution X-ray diffraction, which do not reveal any crystallographic phase separation, clusters or nanocrystals, even at the lowest Tg. Our synchrotron based X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy supported by density functional theory modelling and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry results point to the predominantly +3 configuration of Mn in GaN and thus the ferromagnetic phase has been observed in layers with x > 5% at 3 < T < 10 K. The main detrimental effect of Tg reduced to 590 °C is formation of flat hillocks, which increase the surface root-mean-square roughness, but only to mere 3.3 nm. Fine substrates surface temperature mapping has shown that the magnitudes of both x and Curie temperature (Tc) correlate with local Tg. It has been found that a typical 10 °C variation of Tg across 1 inch substrate can lead to 40% dispersion of Tc. The established here strong sensitivity of Tc on Tg turns magnetic measurements into a very efficient tool providing additional information on local Tg, an indispensable piece of information for growth mastering of ternary compounds in which metal species differ in almost every aspect of their growth related parameters determining the kinetics of the growth. We also show that the precise determination of Tc by two different methods, each sensitive to different moments of Tc distribution, may serve as a tool for quantification of spin homogeneity within the material.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Electronic phase separation in insulating (Ga,Mn)As with low compensation: Super-paramagnetism and hopping conduction

In the present work, low compensated insulating (Ga,Mn)As with 0.7% Mn is obtained by ion implantation combined with pulsed laser melting. The sample shows variable-range hopping transport behavior with a Coulomb gap in the vicinity of the Fermi energy, and the activation energy is reduced by an external magnetic field. A blocking super-paramagnetism is observed rather than ferromagnetism. Below the blocking temperature, the sample exhibits a colossal negative magnetoresistance. Our studies confirm that the disorder-induced electronic phase separation occurs in (Ga,Mn)As samples with a Mn concentration in the insulator-metal transition regime, and it can account for the observed superparamagnetism and the colossal magnetoresistance.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Impact of organic capping layer on the magnetic anisotropy of ultrathin Co films

Using combined magnetometry and ferromagnetic resonance studies, it is shown that introduction of a hydrocarbon cover layer leads to an increase of the contribution of the surface anisotropy to the effective magnetic anisotropy energy of hexagonal close-packed 0001 cobalt films, largely enhancing the perpendicular anisotropy. Due to a weak electronic interaction of the organic molecules with the Co atoms, an increase of surface anisotropy could be explained by the presence of an electric field at the organic-material/Co interface and by modification of surface atoms charge configuration.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Interplay between localization and magnetism in (Ga,Mn)As and (In,Mn)As

Ion implantation of Mn combined with pulsed laser melting is employed to obtain two representative compounds of dilute ferromagnetic semiconductors (DFSs): Ga1-xMnxAs and In1-xMnxAs. In contrast to films deposited by the widely used molecular beam epitaxy, neither Mn interstitials nor As antisites are present in samples prepared by the method employed here. Under these conditions the influence of localization on the hole-mediated ferromagnetism is examined in two DFSs with a differing strength of p-d coupling. On the insulating side of the transition, ferromagnetic signatures persist to higher temperatures in In1-xMnxAs compared to Ga1-xMnxAs with the same Mn concentration x. This substantiates theoretical suggestions that stronger p-d coupling results in an enhanced contribution to localization, which reduces hole-mediated ferromagnetism. Furthermore, the findings support strongly the heterogeneous model of electronic states at the localization boundary and point to the crucial role of weakly localized holes in mediating efficient spin-spin interactions even on the insulator side of the metal-insulator transition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

MgO thickness-induced spin reorientation transition in Co0.9Fe0.1/MgO/Co0.9Fe0.1 structure

The magnetic anisotropy (MA) of Mo/Au/Co0.9Fe0.1/Au/MgO(0.7 - 3 nm)/Au/Co0.9Fe0.1/Au heterostructure has been investigated at room temperature as a function of MgO layer thickness (tMgO). Our studies show that while the MA of the top layer does not change its character upon variation of tMgO, the uniaxial out-of-plane MA of the bottom one undergoes a spin reorientation transition at tMgO of about 0.8 nm, switching to the regime where the coexistence of in- and out-of-plane magnetization alignments is observed. The magnitudes of the magnetic anisotropy constants have been determined from ferromagnetic resonance and dc-magnetometry measurements. The origin of MA evolution has been attributed to a presence of an interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) between Co0.9Fe0.1 layers through the thin MgO film.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Determining Curie temperature of (Ga,Mn)As samples based on electrical transport measurements: low Curie temperature case

In this paper we show that the widely accepted method of the determination of Curie temperature (TC) in (Ga,Mn)As samples, based on the position of the peak in the temperature derivative of the resistivity,completely fails in the case of non-metallic and low-TC unannealed samples. In this case we propose an alternative method, also based on electric transport measurements, which exploits temperature dependence of the second derivative of the resistivity upon magnetic field.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

All-wurtzite (In,Ga)As-(Ga,Mn)As core-shell nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Structural and magnetic properties of (In,Ga)As-(Ga,Mn)As core-shell nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs(111)B substrate with gold catalyst have been investigated.(In,Ga)As core nanowires were grown at high temperature (500 °C) whereas (Ga,Mn)As shells were deposited on the {1-100} side facets of the cores at much lower temperature (220 °C). High resolution transmission electron microscopy images and high spectral resolution Raman scattering data show that both the cores and the shells of the nanowires have wurtzite crystalline structure. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy observations show smooth (Ga,Mn)As shells containing 5% of Mn epitaxially deposited on (In,Ga)As cores containing about 10% of In, without any misfit dislocations at the core-shell interface. With the In content in the (In,Ga)As cores larger than 5% the (In,Ga)As lattice parameter is higher than that of (Ga,Mn)As and the shell is in the tensile strain state. Elaborated magnetic studies indicate the presence of ferromagnetic coupling in (Ga,Mn)As shells at the temperatures in excess of 33 K. This coupling is maintained only in separated mesoscopic volumes resulting in an overall superparamagnetic behavior which gets blocked below ~17 K.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Manipulating Mn--Mg$_k$ cation complexes to control the charge- and spin-state of Mn in GaN

Owing to the variety of possible charge and spin states and to the different ways of coupling to the environment, paramagnetic centres in wide band-gap semiconductors and insulators exhibit a strikingly rich spectrum of properties and functionalities, exploited in commercial light emitters and proposed for applications in quantum information. Here we demonstrate, by combining synchrotron techniques with magnetic, optical and \emph{ab initio} studies, that the codoping of GaN:Mn with Mg allows to control the Mn$^{n+}$ charge and spin state in the range $3\le n\le 5$ and $2\ge S\ge 1$. According to our results, this outstanding degree of tunability arises from the formation of hitherto concealed cation complexes Mn-Mg$_k$, where the number of ligands $k$ is pre-defined by fabrication conditions. The properties of these complexes allow to extend towards the infrared the already remarkable optical capabilities of nitrides, open to solotronics functionalities, and generally represent a fresh perspective for magnetic semiconductors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

GaMnN epitaxial films with high magnetization

We report on the fabrication of pseudomorphic wurtzite GaMnN grown on GaN with Mn concentrations up to 10% using molecular beam epitaxy. According to Rutherford backscattering the Mn ions are mainly at the Ga-substitutional positions, and they are homogeneously distributed according to depth-resolved Auger-electron spectroscopy and secondary-ion mass-spectroscopy measurements. A random Mn distribution is indicated by transmission electron microscopy, no Mn-rich clusters are present for optimized growth conditions. A linear increase of the c-lattice parameter with increasing Mn concentration is found using x-ray diffraction. The ferromagnetic behavior is confirmed by superconducting quantum-interference measurements showing saturation magnetizations of up to 150 emu/cm^3.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Effects related to deposition temperature of ZnCoO films grown by Atomic Layer Deposition - uniformity of Co distribution, structural, optical, electrical and magnetic properties

In the present study we report on properties of ZnCoO films grown at relatively low temperature by the Atomic Layer Deposition, using two reactive organic zinc precursors (dimethylzinc and diethylzinc). The use of these precursors allowed us the significant reduction of a growth temperature to below 300oC. The influence of growth conditions on the Co distribution in ZnCoO films, their structure and magnetic properties was investigated using Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Cathodoluminescence, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDX), X-ray diffraction and Superconducting Quantum Interference Device magnetometry. We achieved high uniformity of the films grown at 160°C. Such films are paramagnetic. Films grown at 200° and at higher temperature are nonuniform. Formation of foreign phases in such films was detected using high resolution EDX method. These samples are not purely paramagnetic and show weak ferromagnetic response at low temperature.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Structural and paramagnetic properties of dilute Ga1-xMnxN

Systematic investigations of the structural and magnetic properties of single crystal (Ga,Mn)N films grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy are presented. High resolution transmission electron microscopy, synchrotron x-ray diffraction, and extended x-ray absorption fine structure studies do not reveal any crystallographic phase separation and indicate that Mn occupies Ga-substitutional sites in the Mn concentration range up to 1%. The magnetic properties as a function of temperature, magnetic field and its orientation with respect to the c-axis of the wurtzite structure can be quantitatively described by the paramagnetic theory of an ensemble of non-interacting Mn$^{3+}$ ions in the relevant crystal field, a conclusion consistent with the x-ray absorption near edge structure analysis. A negligible contribution of Mn in the 2+ charge state points to a low concentration of residual donors in the studied films. Studies on modulation doped p-type (Ga,Mn)N/(Ga,Al)N:Mg heterostructures do not reproduce the high temperature robust ferromagnetism reported recently for this system.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial (Ga,Mn)As on (113)A GaAs

The temperature dependence of magnetic anisotropy in (113)A (Ga,Mn)As layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy is studied by means of superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry as well as by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and magnetooptical effects. Experimental results are described considering cubic and two kinds of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. The magnitude of cubic and uniaxial anisotropy constants is found to be proportional to the fourth and second power of saturation magnetization, respectively. Similarly to the case of (001) samples, the spin reorientation transition from uniaxial anisotropy with the easy along the [-1, 1, 0] direction at high temperatures to the biaxial <100> anisotropy at low temperatures is observed around 25 K. The determined values of the anisotropy constants have been confirmed by FMR studies. As evidenced by investigations of the polar magnetooptical Kerr effect, the particular combination of magnetic anisotropies allows the out-of-plane component of magnetization to be reversed by an in-plane magnetic field. Theoretical calculations within the p-d Zener model explain the magnitude of the out-of-plane uniaxial anisotropy constant caused by epitaxial strain, but do not explain satisfactorily the cubic anisotropy constant. At the same time the findings point to the presence of an additional uniaxial anisotropy of unknown origin. Similarly to the case of (001) films, this additional anisotropy can be explained by assuming the existence of a shear strain. However, in contrast to the (001) samples, this additional strain has an out-of-the-(001)-plane character.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Experimental probing of the interplay between ferromagnetism and localisation in (Ga,Mn)As

The question whether the Anderson-Mott localisation enhances or reduces magnetic correlations is central to the physics of magnetic alloys. Particularly intriguing is the case of (Ga,Mn)As and related magnetic semiconductors, for which diverging theoretical scenarios have been proposed. Here, by direct magnetisation measurements we demonstrate how magnetism evolves when the density of carriers mediating the spin-spin coupling is diminished by the gate electric field in metal/insulator/semiconductor structures of (Ga,Mn)As. Our findings show that the channel depletion results in a monotonic decrease of the Curie temperature, with no evidence for the maximum expected within the impurity-band models. We find that the transition from the ferromagnetic to the paramagnetic state proceeds via the emergence of a superparamagnetic-like spin arrangement. This implies that carrier localisation leads to a phase separation into ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic regions, which we attribute to critical fluctuations in the local density of states, specific to the Anderson-Mott quantum transition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗