Paul Kent Publications

Carrier induced ferromagnetism in Mn-doped II-IV-V2 chalcopyrite semiconductors

Submitted to Applied Physics Letters (2004)

Density functional calculations are used to investigate the magnetic properties of the Mn-doped II-IV-V₂ chalcopyrites, CdGeP₂, ZnGeP₂, ZnGeAs₂, ZnSnP₂, and ZnSnAs₂. In general the Zn-based compounds have a larger ferromagnetic interactions than CdGeP₂ (our chosen benchmark), with the ZnSn compounds having stronger interactions than the ZnGe compounds. We find that holes promote ferromagnetism, and strongly influence the exchange coupling. On introduction of sufficient carriers, the exchange interaction becomes ferromagnetic, even in systems where the interaction is initially anti-ferromagnetic. There is not a simple relationship between lattice constant and exchange coupling as might be expected from simple theories. Zn-based chalcopyrites, and the ZnSn compounds in particular, are promising for dilute magnetic semiconductor applications.

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