Highly resistive epitaxial Mg-doped GdN thin films

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: C -M Lee, Warring, H, Vézian, S, Damilano, B, Granville, S, M Al Khalfioui, Cordier, Y, Trodahl, H J, Ruck, B J, Natali, F
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 30.10.2014
• Subjects: Carrier density; Curie temperature; Doping; Electron density; Epitaxial growth; Magnesium; Molecular beam epitaxy; Physics - Materials Science; Physics - Strongly Correlated Electrons; Thin films; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1410.8228

We report the growth by molecular beam epitaxy of highly resistive GdN, using intentional doping with magnesium. Mg-doped GdN layers with resistivities of 1000 {\Omega}.cm and carrier concentrations of 10E16 cm-3 are obtained for films with Mg concentrations up to 5 x 10E19 atoms/cm3. X-ray diffraction rocking curves indicate that Mg-doped GdN films have crystalline quality very similar to undoped GdN films, showing that the Mg doping did not affect the structural properties of the films. A decrease of the Curie temperature with decreasing the electron density is observed, supporting a recently suggested magnetic polaron scenario [F. Natali et al., Phys. Rev. B 87, 035202 (2013)].