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Ferromagnetism in III-V and II-VI semiconductor structures

The current status of research on the carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in tetrahedrally coordinated semiconductors is briefly reviewed. The experimental results for III-V semiconductors, where Mn atoms introduce both spins and holes, are compared to the case of II-VI compounds, in which the ferromagnetism has been observed for the modulation-doped p-type Cd1-xMnxTe/Cd1-y-zMgyZnzTe:N heterostructures, and more recently, in Zn1-xMnxTe:N epilayers. On the theoretical side, a model is presented, which takes into account: (i) strong spin-orbit and kp couplings in the valence band; (ii) the effect of confinement and strain upon the hole density-of-states and response function, and (iii) the influence of disorder and carrier-carrier interactions, particularly near the metal-to-insulator transition. A comparison between experimental and theoretical results demonstrates that the model can describe the magnetic circular dichroism, the values of TC observed in the studied systems as well as explain the directions of the easy axis and the magnitudes of the corresponding anisotropy fields as a function of confinement and biaxial strain. Various suggestions concerning design of novel ferromagnetic semiconductor systems are described.