Heat treatment effect on magnetic properties of polycrystalline Si1−Mn semiconductors grown by MBE

MBE-grown polycrystalline Si 1-x Mn x semiconductors were aged at 700°C for various times, and heat treatment effect on the magnetic properties was studied. Extensive analyses on the magnetization characteristics and microstructure of polycrystalline Si 1-x Mn x semiconductors reveal that ferromagnetic MnSi and anti-ferromagnetic Mn 5 Si 3 phases are transformed into ferromagnetic Mn 4 Si 7 , nonmagnetic Mn 5 Si 2 , anti-ferromagnetic β-Mn and unidentified minor phases. The phase transformation causes the decrease of saturation magnetizations after heat treatment.