Carrier transport properties of the Group-IV ferromagnetic semiconductor Ge1-xFex with and without boron doping

Abstract

We have investigated the transport and magnetic properties of group-IV ferromagnetic semiconductor Ge1-xFex films (x = 1.0 and 2.3%) with and without boron doping grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). In order to accurately measure the transport properties of 100-nm-thick Ge1-xFex films, (001)-oriented silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers with an ultra-thin Si body layer (∼5 nm) were used as substrates. Owing to the low Fe content, the hole concentration and mobility in the Ge1-xFex films were exactly estimated by Hall measurements because the anomalous Hall effect in these films was found to be negligibly small. By boron doping, we increased the hole concentration in Ge1-xFex from ∼1018 cm−3 to ∼1020 cm−3 (x = 1.0%) and to ∼1019 cm−3 (x = 2.3%), but no correlation was observed between the hole concentration and magnetic properties. This result presents a contrast to the hole-induced ferromagnetism in III-V ferromagnetic semiconductors.