High temperature (>400 K) ferromagnetism in III–V-based diluted magnetic semiconductor GaCrN grown by ECR molecular-beam epitaxy

A new III–V nitride-based diluted-magnetic semiconductor GaCrN has been successfully synthesized for the first time. GaCrN layers were grown on sapphire (0001) substrates by electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy. X-ray diffraction measurement showed no existence of secondary phase in the GaCrN layers. They showed a ferromagnetic behavior with a Curie temperature higher than 400 K, and clear saturation and hysteresis were observed in the magnetization versus magnetic field curves at all measuring temperatures.