Properties of ferromagnetic III-V semiconductors

This review covers the experimental and theoretical results on III-V-based ferromagnetic semiconductors ((In,Mn)As and (Ga,Mn)As) accumulated to date. It was found in 1989 that low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy allows one to dope InAs. and later GaAs, with magnetic element Mn over its solubility limit, making it possible to realize an alloy of III-Vs and magnetic elements. Ferromagnetism in such alloys was discovered in (In,Mn)As and later in (Ga,Mn)As. Since ferromagnetic III-Vs can readily be incorporated in the existing semiconductor heterostructure systems, where a number of optical and electronic devices have been realized, they allow us to explore physics and application of previously not available combinations of quantum structures and magnetism in semiconductors. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.