Magnetically active vacancy related defects in irradiated GaN layers

We present the studies of magnetic properties of 2MeV4He+-irradiated GaN grown by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. Particle irradiation allowed controllable introduction of Ga-vacancy in the samples. The magnetic moments with concentrations changing between 4.3 and 8.3×1017cm−3 showing superparamagnetic blocking at room temperature are observed. The appearance of clear hysteresis curve at T=5K with coercive field of about HC≈270 Oe suggests that the formation of more complex Ga vacancy related defects is promoted with increasing Ga vacancy content. The small concentration of the observed magnetically active defects with respect to the total Ga-vacancy concentration suggests that the presence of the oxygen/hydrogen-related vacancy complexes is the source of the observed magnetic moments.Peer reviewe