Growth and characterisation of MnSb thin films and interfaces

Abstract

The deposition of Mn on to reconstructed InSb and GaAs surfaces has been studied by re ection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), atomic force microscopy and scanning tunnelling microscopy. On both Ga- and As-terminated GaAs(001), a Mn-induced (2x2) reconstruction is observed. In contrast, there are no well defined Mn-induced surface reconstructions on InSb. Islands are observed to form on all of the surfaces studied, with islands on the Group III-rich surfaces composed of elemental Mn and of an alloy on the Group V-rich surfaces. The conversion from Group III(V)-rich to Group V(III)-rich surfaces are discussed in terms of basic thermodynamic quantities and a number of models for surface atom substitution are proposed as pathways for MnAs and MnSb island formation. A high resolution X-ray diffraction study (HRXRD) has been performed on niccolite, cubic and wurtzite crystallites present within MnSb thin films grown on GaAs(111) substrates. It is observed that the lattice parameters of the polymorphs do not depend on the film thickness or the time-corrected beam ux ratio, J. The niccolite phase is found to relax rapidly (within 3 nm) and the average c lattice parameter of these films is 5.791(1) A. Variations in the c lattice parameter indicate that the average stoichiometry of the films varies on a per sample basis and this may act to promote the formation of polymorphs. Cubic MnSb crystallites exhibit a large strain dispersion of approximately 1 % and a rhombohedral or trigonal distortion is believed to be the origin. Quantitative analysis of asymmetric reciprocal space maps reveals that films grown using the optimised conditions have the highest concentration of the cubic polymorph, with lower values of J in the optimised range promoting this polymorph. The growth of MnSb on Ge(001) and Ge(111) substrates has been investigated. On Ge(001) growth proceeds through the formation of three dimensional islands and no dependence on the growth conditions is observed. Evidence for (1102) and (1120) crystallites is seen in XRD and RHEED, respectively. The interface between the MnSb islands and the Ge(001) substrate is sharp with no evidence for interfacial reactivity. The epitaxial growth of MnSb on Ge(111) is reported for the first time. The growth orientation is confirmed to be (0001) by X-ray diffraction while the layers are found to be ferromagnetic with a Curie temperature in excess of 300 K