Ordered arrangements of selective-area grown MnAs clusters as components for planar magneto-electronic devices: Experiment and theory

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The properties of granular hybrid structures, consisting of nanoclusters embedded in a matrix material or arranged on surfaces can be widely tuned. The tuneability arises from the larger number of degrees of freedom in a composite hybrid compared to a single-phase material. However, the technological application of such granular hybrids has been mainly restricted to macroscopic devices, i.e. where the mean distance between clusters is much smaller than the characteristic device size, as most growth methods yield random arrangements of clusters only. Recent progress in selective-area metal-organic vapor phase growth of MnAs clusters on different substrates allows one to accurately tune the position, the size and the shape of ferromagnetic MnAs nanoclusters and, thus, to obtain ordered arrangements of a few nanoclusters which may serve as the starting point for novel planar magnetoelectronic devices. Here, we want to study the magnetic and the magneto-transport properties of individual MnAs clusters as well as of coupled cluster arrangements. The properties of the coupled cluster arrangements can be tuned in a controlled way during the growth process or afterwards by modifying the interface between clusters of the arrangement. Magnetic and magnetotransport results will be correlated and compared with ab initio calculations. On the basis of these results novel device structures will be proposed and preliminary tests will be performed.