A New Type Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Li(Zn,Mn)As

Diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) exhibits unique magnetic and transport properties. The well known DMS is (Ga,Mn)As that is in thin film form so far only. However Mn dopant brings both localized spins and carriers in Ga1−xMnxAs, result in the lack of independent control of local moment and carrier densities. It is therefore difficult to study or control charge and spin variable quantitatively. Here we report that an individual control of carrier and spin can be realized in a new type of DMS for Mn-doped I-II-V type semiconductor Li1+yZn1-xMnxAs in bulk. The Li(Zn,Mn)As polycrystalline samples showed ferromagnetic transition temperature (TC) up to 50K and spontaneous magnetization up to 2.9 μB per Mn. The other advantage of new DMS over III-V DMSs is the availability of bulk specimens so far for these type of DMS Moreover the new DMS shows a soft magnetic behavior with the coercive force < 100Oe which would be promising for prospective application. Muon spin relaxtion (μSR) probed static magnetic order of full volume in the ferromagnetic region. Electrical transport properties showed Li1+y(Zn,Mn)As (y = 0.05–0.1) compounds have p-type carriers since excess Li substitutes Zn sites presumably[1].