Ferromagnetic semiconducting behavior of Mn1-xCrxTe compounds -: art. no. 193308

The magnetic and electrical transport properties of ferromagnetic semiconductor Mn1-xCrxTe (x=0.04, 0.08, and 0.14) compounds have been investigated. These compounds have ferromagnetic behavior with hysteresis loops showing a coercivity of 300-985 Oe at 5 K. The hysteresis loop is observed even at room temperature for Mn0.86Cr0.14Te. The substitution of Cr for Mn leads to a change from an antiferromagnetic state of MnTe to a ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic) state of Mn1-xCrxTe. Moreover, the incorporation of Cr into the host antiferromagnetic semiconductor MnTe lattice is confirmed by the structural characterization, which proves further that the ferromagnetic properties are not a result of the secondary phase. The typical feature of the thermally activated conduction processes for semiconductors has been verified by electrical property measurement.