Nonmagnetic compensation in ferromagnetic Ga1-xMnxAs and Ga1-xMnxP synthesized by ion implantation and pulsed-laser melting

The electronic and magnetic effects of intentional compensation with nonmagnetic donors are investigated in the ferromagnetic semiconductors Ga1-xMnxAs and Ga1-xMnxP synthesized using ion implantation and pulsed-laser melting. It is demonstrated that compensation with nonmagnetic donors and Mn-I have similar qualitative effects on materials properties. With compensation T-C decreases, resistivity increases, and stronger magnetoresistance and anomalous Hall effect attributed to skew scattering are observed. Ga1-xMnxAs can be controllably compensated with Te through a metal-insulator transition through which the magnetic and electrical properties vary continuously. The resistivity of insulating Ga1-xMnxAs:Te can be described by thermal activation to the mobility edge and simply activated hopping transport. Ga1-xMnxP doped with S is insulating at all compositions but shows decreasing T-C with compensation. The existence of a ferromagnetic insulating state in Ga1-xMnxAs:Te and Ga1-xMnxP:S having T-C's of the same order as the uncompensated materials demonstrates that localized holes are effective at mediating global ferromagnetism in ferromagnetic semiconductors through the percolation of ferromagnetic "puddles" at low temperatures. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.