Hydrogen control of ferromagnetism in a dilute magnetic semiconductor

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Jun 4;92(22):227202. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.227202. Epub 2004 Jun 3.

Abstract

We show that upon exposure to a remote dc hydrogen plasma, the magnetic and electronic properties of the dilute magnetic semiconductor Ga1-xMnxAs change qualitatively. While the as-grown Ga1-xMnxAs thin films are ferromagnetic at temperatures T less, similar 70 K, the samples are found to be paramagnetic after the hydrogenation, with a Brillouin-type magnetization curve even at T=2 K. Comparing magnetization and electronic transport measurements, we conclude that the density of free holes p is significantly reduced by the plasma process, while the density of Mn magnetic moments does not change.