Effect of co-doping of donor and acceptor impurities in the ferromagnetic semiconductor Zn1-xCrxTe studied by soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Abstract

We have performed x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) studies of the diluted ferromagnetic semiconductor Zn${}_{1-\text{x}}$Cr${}_{\text{x}}$Te doped with iodine (I) or nitrogen (N), corresponding to electron or hole doping, respectively. From the shape of the Cr $2p$ absorption peak in the XAS spectra, it was concluded that Cr ions in the undoped, I-doped and lightly N-doped samples are divalent (Cr${}^{2+}$), while Cr${}^{2+}$ and trivalent (Cr${}^{3+}$) coexist in the heavily N-doped sample. This result indicates that the doped nitrogen atoms act as acceptors but that doped holes are located on the Cr ions. In the magnetic-field dependence of the XMCD signal at the Cr $2p$ absorption edge, ferromagnetic behaviors were observed in the undoped, I-doped, and lightly N-doped samples, while ferromagnetism was considerably suppressed in heavily N-doped sample, which is consistent with the results of magnetization measurements.

Accepted in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter