Structural and magnetic properties of MnP films and nanocrystals – Nima Nateghi; PolyMTL

Nima Nateghi, Département de génie physique, Polytéchnique Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.

Heterogeneous magnetic semiconductors consisting of manganese pnictide nanomagnets embedded in semiconductor matrices have attracted a great deal of attention during the past decade. Their enhanced magnetic functionalities, such as Giant Magneto-Resistance (GMR) and Giant Magneto-Optical (GMO) Kerr and Faraday effects makes them potential candidates for magnetoelectronic and magnetooptoelectronic applications. The structure and the texture of the embedded nanoclusters are known to significantly affect the magnetic properties of these heterogeneous semiconductors. Hence, in order to achieve the desired magnetic functionalities it is important to characterize, understand and control the structure and texture of the system. The first step would be to understand the growth mechanism and texture selection of the nanoclusters.

In this talk, we present a study of manganese phosphide (MnP) thin films grown on gallium phosphide (GaP) substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. We show how studying the endotaxial growth and texture selection of MnP thin films brings us one step closer to understanding the growth mechanism and texture selection of MnP nanoclusters embedded in a GaP matrix. We also present a method, which we have developed based on magnetic measurements, to determine the size distribution of MnP nanoclusters by constructing their magnetic size histogram.

Site web du groupe du Dr. Netaghi

Cette conférence est présentée par le RQMP Versant Nord du Département de physique de l'Université de Montréal et le Département de génie physique de Polytechnique Montréal.