Determination of the local concentrations of Mn interstitials and antisite defects in GaMnAs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method combining X-ray analysis and transmission electron microscopy to accurately measure local concentrations of Mn interstitials and antisite defects in GaMnAs, revealing interstitial prevalence.

Contribution

A novel technique for local defect concentration measurement in GaMnAs using structure factor sensitivity and high-resolution microscopy.

Findings

Interstitials often have As nearest neighbors in as-grown layers

Method achieves high spatial resolution in defect analysis

Provides detailed defect distribution in GaMnAs

Abstract

We present a method for the determination of the local concentrations of interstitial and substitutional Mn atoms and As antisite defects in GaMnAs. The method relies on the sensitivity of the structure factors of weak reflections to the concentrations and locations of these minority constituents. High spatial resolution is obtained by combining structure factor measurement and X-ray analysis in a transmission electron microscope. We demonstrate the prevalence of interstitials with As nearest neighbors in as-grown layers.