Highly enhanced Curie temperature in low-temperature annealed [Ga,Mn]As epilayers

We report Curie temperatures up to 150 K in annealed Ga1-xMnxAs epilayers grown with a relatively low As:Ga beam equivalent pressure ratio. A variety of measurements (magnetization, Hall effect, magnetic circular dichroism and Raman scattering) suggest that the higher Curie temperature results from an enhanced free hole density. The data also indicate that, in addition to the carrier concentration, the sample thickness limits the maximum attainable Curie temperature in this material, suggesting that the free surface of Ga1-xMnxAs epilayers may be important in determining their physical properties. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.