Atom-by-Atom Substitution of Mn in GaAs and Visualization of their Hole-Mediated Interactions

TL;DR

This study uses atomic-scale STM techniques to visualize and quantify Mn-Mn interactions in GaAs, revealing orientation-dependent ferromagnetic interactions that could improve spintronic device performance.

Contribution

It introduces a novel atom-by-atom substitution method with STM to directly observe and analyze Mn dopant interactions in GaAs at the atomic level.

Findings

Ferromagnetic interactions depend strongly on crystallographic orientation.

Visualization of electronic states mediating Mn-Mn interactions.

Potential to enhance ferromagnetic transition temperature through oriented growth.

Abstract

The discovery of ferromagnetism in Mn doped GaAs [1] has ignited interest in the development of semiconductor technologies based on electron spin and has led to several proof-of-concept spintronic devices [2-4]. A major hurdle for realistic applications of (Ga,Mn)As, or other dilute magnetic semiconductors, remains their below room-temperature ferromagnetic transition temperature. Enhancing ferromagnetism in semiconductors requires understanding the mechanisms for interaction between magnetic dopants, such as Mn, and identifying the circumstances in which ferromagnetic interactions are maximized [5]. Here we report the use of a novel atom-by-atom substitution technique with the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) to perform the first controlled atomic scale study of the interactions between isolated Mn acceptors mediated by the electronic states of GaAs. High-resolution STM measurements are used to visualize the GaAs electronic states that participate in the Mn-Mn interaction and to quantify the interaction strengths as a function of relative position and orientation. Our experimental findings, which can be explained using tight-binding model calculations, reveal a strong dependence of ferromagnetic interaction on crystallographic orientation. This anisotropic interaction can potentially be exploited by growing oriented Ga1-xMnxAs structures to enhance the ferromagnetic transition temperature beyond that achieved in randomly doped samples. Our experimental methods also provide a realistic approach to create precise arrangements of single spins as coupled quantum bits for memory or information processing purposes.