A new high-T-C ferromagnet: Manganese-doped CdGeAs2 chalcopyrite

摘要

New ferromagnets with high Curie temperatures, reaching 355 K, have been obtained by doping a GdGeAs2 semiconductor compound with manganese. The obtained compounds are magnetically inhomogeneous, comprising a mixture of ferromagnetic (FM) and paramagnetic phases. The volume fraction of the FM phase increases with the degree of doping. The development of ferromagnetism in this system is probably related to the presence of vacancies of the (Cd, V-C , Mn)GeAs2 type or to a nonstoichiometry of the (Cd, Ge, Mn)GeAs2 type, since theoretical estimates show that the FM state is energetically more favorable than the spin glass state only in these cases. (C) 2004 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".