Magnetic Properties of Silicon with Paramagnetic Impurity Atoms

Abstract

One of the possible ways to obtain silicon with magnetic properties is the introduction of paramagnetic impurities into silicon: Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Co. In our opinion, silicon materials containing magnetic nanosized clusters are most suitable for spintronic devices. The possibility of obtaining silicon with magnetic properties by diffusion doping was studied in this work. To obtain silicon doped with Cr, Mn, Fe and Ni impurity atoms, p-type single-crystal silicon with a specific resistance of ρ = 5 Ohm·cm and ρ = 0.5 Ohm·cm was used, and for doping with Co atoms, n-type silicon with resistivity ρ=10 Ohm·cm was used. The diffusion temperature and time were chosen such that, after diffusion annealing, the samples with impurity Cr, Fe, and Mn atoms remained highly compensated p-type, and when doped with impurity Co atoms, they remained high-resistance n-type. The results of the study showed that with decreasing temperature, the value of the negative magnetoresistance Δρ/ρ in the Si<Mn> samples increases and reaches its maximum value (about 800%) at T = 240 K, a further decrease in temperature leads to a decrease in the magnetoresistance, and at a temperature T = 170 K, the sign of the magnetoresistance is inverted. In Si <Cr> samples, with decreasing temperature, the positive magnetoresistance turns into a negative one, the value of which increases with decreasing temperature, and is achieved at T=100 K Δρ/ρ = 45–50%. In Si<Fe> samples, with decreasing temperature, the value of negative magnetoresistance increases monotonically and at T=100 K its value is Δρ/ρ = (100÷120) %. The study in Si<Сo> samples showed that with decreasing temperature the value of positive magnetoresistance increases and at Т=100 K it reaches Δρ/ρ = (17÷20) %. The study of magnetoresistance in samples - Si<Ni> showed that with decreasing temperature the value of positive magnetoresistance increases and at T=100 K it reaches Δρ/ρ = (10÷15) %. When studying the magnetic properties of p-Si <B, Mn> samples at low temperatures (below T=30 K), a ferromagnetic state was found, i.e. succeeded in obtaining a magnetic semiconductor material by the method of diffusion of a paramagnetic impurity. In the overcompensated Si <B, Mn> (n‑type) samples, no magnetic hysteresis was found. This shows a significant effect on the magnetic properties of the manganese impurity in silicon of its charge and, accordingly, spin state. Based on the results obtained, it can be argued that diffusion doping of silicon with manganese can be used to obtain silicon with magnetic properties.