Ferromagnetic Semiconductors

Abstract

Semiconductors and ferromagnets play complementary roles in current information technology. On the one hand, low carrier densities in semiconductors facilitate modulation of electronic transport properties by doping or external gates. Information processing is, therefore, most commonly based on semiconductor devices. On the other hand, because of long-range order in ferromagnets only small magnetic fields are necessary to reorient large magnetic moments and induce large changes in magnetic and transport properties. This explains the use of ferromagnetic metals in storage devices.