Magneto-optical spectra and the presence of an impurity band in p-type ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Fe)Sb with high Curie temperature

Abstract

By using magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy with photon energy in both visible (1.5–5 eV) and infrared light regions (0.6–1.7 eV), we systematically investigate the band structure of p-type ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga1−x,Fex)Sb with various Fe concentrations x = 2%–20% grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy. We observed two peaks in the infrared MCD spectra that can be explained by the optical transitions related to the Fermi level (EF) located in an Fe-related impurity band (IB) in the bandgap. As x increases, the energy shifts of the two peaks suggest that the Fe-related IB extends into the bandgap and EF rises correspondingly. Furthermore, the mobility of hole carriers in these (Ga,Fe)Sb thin films estimated by Hall measurements is very low (0.2–2 cm2/Vs), which is consistent with our conclusion that the hole carriers and EF reside in the IB rather than in the valence band. Our results provide insights into the band structure of p-type ferromagnetic semiconductors (Ga,Fe)Sb with high Curie temperature, which is promising for the realization of spintronic devices operating at room temperature.