Ferromagnetic properties of MnAs/Ge multilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

MnAs/Ge multilayer structures successfully fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy were grown on (001) GaAs substrates at a growth temperature of 580 degreesC. The multilayer with a 100 Angstrom period thickness exhibited ferromagnetism up to 345 K with a coercive field of 147 Oe at 300 K and a vanishingly small in-plane magnetic anisotropy, as determined from temperature-dependent magnetization and hysteresis loop measurements. These results indicate the formation of novel ferromagnetic multilayers, which may have spintronic applications. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.