Epitaxial growth of ferromagnetic δ-phase manganese gallium on semiconducting scandium nitride (001)

Ferromagnetic delta-phase manganese gallium layers with Mn/(Mn + Ga) = 60% have been successfully grown on ScN(0 0 1) by molecular beam epitaxy, expanding possibilities for ferromagnetic layers on nitride semiconductors. The in-plane epitaxial relationship of manganese gallium with respect to scandium nitride is determined to be [1 0 0](MnGa)//[1 1 0](ScN) and [1 1 0](MnGa)//[1 0 0](ScN). Vibrating sample magnetometry measurements indicate out-of-plane magnetization of the film, suggesting strong magnetic anisotropy along the manganese gallium c-axis. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.