Do As antisites destroy the ferromagnetism of (Ga,Mn)As?

Abstract

The effect of the inclusion of As antisites in the diluted magnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As is studied within density functional theory in the local spin density approximation. In the case of homogeneous distribution of Mn ions we find that the ferromagnetism is largely weakened by the presence of the antisites. This is due to compensation of the free holes which mediate the long range ferromagnetic order. In contrast, when two Mn ions are coupled through only one As ion, ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic order compete. In this case the magnetic ground state depends on: i) the position of the As antisites relative to the Mn, and ii) the As antisite concentration. We explain our results using a model of competing antiferromagnetic super-exchange and ferromagnetic double-exchange via localized Zener carriers. The strong dependence of the ferromagnetic order on the microscopic configuration accounts for the large variation in experimental data