Zinc-blende structure of CrTe epilayers grown on GaAs

We report the synthesis of zinc-blende CrTe (zb-CrTe) as highly oriented crystalline grains in films of 100-nm thickness. The structural properties of the film. were characterized using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selective-area electron diffraction (SAED). Temperature-dependent magnetization measurements show that the Curie temperature of the film is similar to 327 K. Angular M-H measurements indicate that the CrTe films have an in-plane easy axis of magnetization along the [0 (1) over bar1] direction of GaAs.