Si based magnetic semiconductors

John F. DiTusa, Louisiana State University

Abstract

The efforts over the past decade to identify and characterize magnetic semiconducting systems that would be compatible with present-day silicon technologies are reviewed. Investigations that have explored transition metal doping of the group IV semiconductors silicon and germanium are discussed along with intermetallic compounds such as silicides and germanides that may play the role of a magnetic semiconducting source of polarized electrons. Thin films and nanostructures of these materials have been grown by a number of synthesis techniques, and the resulting structural properties, including the important issue of homogeneity of dopants, are critically surveyed. The resulting magnetic and carrier transport properties are also reviewed.