Nanonet Formation by Constitutional Supercooling of Pulsed Laser Annealed, Mn-Implanted Germanium

This subchapter presents interesting aspects of pulsed laser annealing. During this process, a laser pulse incorporates heat in the near surface region of a semiconductor or a metal. If the energy density is high enough, the system may melt near the surface. Because of the large temperature gradient, a very fast recrystallization may lead to novel physical material properties. Here we present interesting aspects of the formation of a Mn-rich nanonet in germanium. Important physical phenomena are explained in detail. The material has been fabricated by pulsed laser annealing of Mn implanted Ge wafers with a pulse duration of 300 ns. Due to a segregation instability during recrystallization, Mn segregates at the liquid-solid interface and an approximately 40 nm thick Ge:Mn surface layer is strongly enriched with Mn. Transmission electron microscopy plan-view images reveal a percolating Mn-rich nanonet after etching the top 10 nm surface layer. Hysteretic anomalous Hall effect has been observed up to 30 K, but it vanishes after etching away the 40 nm thick Mn-rich Ge:Mn layer. The nanonet seems to support the correlation between magnetization and hysteretic Hall resistance. Intrinsic charge carrier scattering in the threads or vertices of the Ge:Mn nanonet may lead to the observed anomalous Hall effect. In the outlook the nanonet formation is revealed for supercooled Mn-implanted Si.