Hole Transport in p-Type ZnO

A two-band model involving the A- and B-valence bands was adopted to analyze the temperature dependent Hall effect measured on N-doped \textit{p}-type ZnO. The hole transport characteristics (mobilities, and effective Hall factor) are calculated using the ``relaxation time approximation'' as a function of temperature. It is shown that the lattice scattering by the acoustic deformation potential is dominant. In the calculation of the scattering rate for ionized impurity mechanism, the activation energy of 100 or 170 meV is used at different compensation ratios between donor and acceptor concentrations. The theoretical Hall mobility at acceptor concentration of $7 \times 10^{18}$ cm$^3$ is about 70 cm$^2$V$^{-1}$s$^{-1}$ with the activation energy of 100 meV and the compensation ratio of 0.8 at 300 K. We also found that the compensation ratios conspicuously affected the Hall mobilities.Comment: 5page, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Jpn. J. Appl. Phy

The band structure and Fermi surface of La0.6_{0.6}Sr0.4_{0.4}MnO3_{3} thin films studied by in-situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

We have performed an in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) on single-crystal surfaces of La$_{0.6}$Sr$_{0.4}$MnO$_{3}$ (LSMO) thin films grown on SrTiO$_{3}$ (001) substrates by laser molecular beam epitaxy, and investigated the electronic structure near the Fermi level ($E_{F}$). The experimental results were compared with the band-structure calculation based on LDA + $U$. The band structure of LSMO thin films consists of several highly dispersive O 2$p$ derived bands in the binding energy range of 2.0 - 6.0 eV and Mn 3$d$ derived bands near $E_{F}$. ARPES spectra around the $Gamma$ point show a dispersive band near $E_{F}$ indicative of an electron pocket centered at the $Gamma$ point, although it was not so clearly resolved as an electronlike pocket due to the suppression of spectral weight in the vicinity of $E_{F}$. Compared with the band-structure calculation, the observed conduction band is assigned to the Mn 3$de_{g}$ majority-spin band responsible for the half-metallic nature of LSMO. We have found that the estimated size of the Fermi surface is consistent with the prediction of the band-structure calculation, while the band width becomes significantly narrower than the calculation. Also, the intensity near $E_{F}$ is strongly reduced. The origin of these discrepancies between the experiment and the calculation is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Direct observation of magnetic domains in phase separated Nd0.7Ca0.3MnO3 single crystals

The magnetic properties of single-crystalline Nd0.7Ca0.3MnO3 were studied with both macroscopic and microscopic probes. The magnetization shows large irreversibility behavior between zero-field-cooled and field-cooled data at low field, suggesting a phase separation driven by competition between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases. The scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscope observations under zero field gave clear evidence that the compound includes ferromagnetic regions as the ground state below Tc. It was also found that two different phase-separated states appear, depending on temperature. At T∼125 K, weak but finite spontaneous magnetization develops, while the magnetization is abruptly enhanced below 95 K, possibly reflecting an increase of the volume fraction of the ferromagnetic region. The present results support the phase separation scenario that fine ferromagnetic particles embedded in an antiferromagnetic matrix are magnetostatically coupled to each other to form a network of macroscopic sizes

Spin-filter tunnel junction with matched Fermi surfaces

Efficient injection of spin-polarized current into a semiconductor is a basic prerequisite for building semiconductor-based spintronic devices. Here, we use inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy to show that the efficiency of spin-filter-type spin injectors is limited by spin scattering of the tunneling electrons. By matching the Fermi-surface shapes of the current injection source and target electrode material, spin injection efficiency can be significantly increased in epitaxial ferromagnetic insulator tunnel junctions. Our results demonstrate that not only structural but also Fermi-surface matching is important to suppress scattering processes in spintronic devices.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

In-situ photoemission study of Pr_{1-x}Ca_xMnO_3 epitaxial thin films with suppressed charge fluctuations

We have performed an {\it in-situ} photoemission study of Pr_{1-x}Ca_xMnO_3 (PCMO) thin films grown on LaAlO_3 (001) substrates and observed the effect of epitaxial strain on the electronic structure. We found that the chemical potential shifted monotonically with doping, unlike bulk PCMO, implying the disappearance of incommensurate charge fluctuations of bulk PCMO. In the valence-band spectra, we found a doping-induced energy shift toward the Fermi level (E_F) but there was no spectral weight transfer, which was observed in bulk PCMO. The gap at E_F was clearly seen in the experimental band dispersions determined by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and could not be explained by the metallic band structure of the C-type antiferromagnetic state, probably due to localization of electrons along the ferromagnetic chain direction or due to another type of spin-orbital ordering.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Gradual Disappearance of the Fermi Surface near the Metal-Insulator Transition in La1−x_{1-x}Srx_{x}MnO3_{3}

We report the first observation of changes in the electronic structure of La$_{1-x}$Sr$_{x}$MnO$_{3}$ (LSMO) across the filling-control metal-insulator (MI) transition by means of in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) of epitaxial thin films. The Fermi surface gradually disappears near the MI transition by transferring the spectral weight from the coherent band near the Fermi level ($E_{F}$) to the lower Hubbard band, whereas a pseudogap behavior also exists in the ARPES spectra in the close vicinity of $E_{F}$ for the metallic LSMO. These results indicate that the spectral weight transfer derived from strong electron-electron interaction dominates the gap formation in LSMO associated with the filling-control MI transition.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure