High-energy spectroscopic study of the III-V nitride-based diluted magnetic semiconductor Ga${}_{1-x}$Mn${}_x$N

Abstract

We have studied the electronic structure of the diluted magnetic semiconductor Ga${}_{1-x}$Mn${}_x$N ($x$ = 0.0, 0.02 and 0.042) grown on Sn-doped $n$-type GaN using photoemission and soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Mn $L$-edge x-ray absorption have indicated that the Mn ions are in the tetrahedral crystal field and that their valence is divalent. Upon Mn doping into GaN, new state were found to form within the band gap of GaN, and the Fermi level was shifted downward. Satellite structures in the Mn 2$p$ core level and the Mn 3$d$ partial density of states were analyzed using configuration-interaction calculation on a MnN${}_4$ cluster model. The deduced electronic structure parameters reveal that the $p$-$d$ exchange coupling in Ga${}_{1-x}$Mn${}_x$N is stronger than that in Ga${}_{1-x}$Mn${}_x$As.

6pages, 10figures. To be published to Phys. Rev. B