Origin of robust nanoscale ferromagnetism in Fe-doped Ge revealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculation

Sakamoto, Shoya*; Wakabayashi, Yuki*; Takeda, Yukiharu   ; Fujimori, Shinichi   ; Suzuki, Hakuto*; Ban, Yoshisuke*; Yamagami, Hiroshi; Tanaka, Masaaki*; Oya, Shinobu*; Fujimori, Atsushi*

GeFe (Ge:Fe) shows ferromagnetic behavior up to a relatively high temperature of 210 K and hence is a promising material for spintronic applications compatible with Si technology. We have studied its underlying electronic structure by soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements and first-principles supercell calculation. We observed finite Fe 3 components in the states at the Fermi level () in a wide region of momentum space, and the was located 0.35 eV above the valence-band maximum of the host Ge. Our calculation indicates that the is also within the deep acceptor-level impurity band induced by the strong -() hybridization. We conclude that the additional minority-spin electron characteristic of the Fe state is responsible for the short-range ferromagnetic coupling between Fe atoms.