Anisotropic defect-induced ferromagnetism and transport in Gd-doped GaN two-dimensional electron gasses

Abstract

Here we report on the effect of rare-earth Gd doping on the magnetic properties and magnetotransport of GaN two-dimensional electron gasses (2DEGs). Samples are grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy and consist of AlN/GaN heterostructures where Gd is delta doped within a polarization-induced 2DEG. Ferromagnetism is observed in these Gd-doped 2DEGs with a Curie temperature above room temperature and an anisotropic spontaneous magnetization preferring an out-of-plane (c-axis) orientation. At magnetic fields up to 50 kOe, the magnetization remains smaller for the in-plane configuration than for the out-of-plane configuration, which is indicative of exchange-coupled spins locked along the polar c axis. The sample with the lowest Gd concentration (2.3 x 10(14) cm(-2)) exhibits a saturation magnetization of 41.1 mu(B)/Gd3+ at 5 K revealing that the Gd ion spins (7 mu(B)) alone do not account for the magnetization. Surprisingly, control samples grown without any Gd display inconsistent magnetic properties; in some control samples weak ferromagnetism is observed, and in others paramagnetism is observed. The ferromagnetic 2DEGs do not exhibit the anomalous Hall effect; the Hall resistance varies nonlinearly with the magnetic field but does not track the magnetization, indicating the lack of coupling between the ferromagnetic phase and the conduction-band electrons within the 2DEG.