High-temperature ferromagnetism of Si 1−x Mn x ( x ≈0.52−0.55) alloys

Abstract The paper reports on the comprehensive study of properties of nonstoichiometric Si1−xMnx alloys slightly enriched in Mn (x≈0.51–0.55) as compared to the stoichiometric monosilicide MnSi. Mosaic type Si1−xMnx films 55–70 nm in thickness were produced by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method onto the single crystalline Al2O3 substrates at 340 °C. The Curie temperature TC in nonstoichiometric Si1−xMnx (x≈0.52–0.55) films exceeds room temperature, while in their stoichiometric counterpart, MnSi, the TC value does not exceed ≈30 К. The consistent data on anomalous Hall effect and transverse Kerr effect prove the global character of ferromagnetic (FM) order caused by magnetic defect formation rather than the presence of FM clusters. Аt Mn content x≤0.55, the magnetization data testify to a good homogeneity in the distribution of magnetic defects without their segregation: variations of the saturation magnetization Ms do not exceed 6% in the temperature range T=10–100 К and are well described by the Bloch law. It is also revealed that textured high-quality Si1−xMnx films with x≈0.52 and ТС~300 К could be formed by PLD method in the “shadow” geometry (at lower energy of deposited atoms).