MBE growth and properties of GaCrN

Since the discovery of the carrier-induced ferromagnetism in InMnAs and GaMnAs, diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) have been of much interest from an industrial viewpoint because of their potential utility for so-called "spin-electronics". However, the highest Curie temperature reported so far for III-V-based DMSs was 110 K for GaMnAs, being far from room temperature. Recently, theoretical studies revealed the possibility of DMSs that exhibit ferromagnetism at room temperature and predicted that GaN-based DMSs, especially Cr-doped GaN, are possible candidates for those materials. We report the successful growth of a new III-V-based DMS GaCrN and their magnetic and optical properties.