Microhardness as a function of Mn concentration in Ga1−xMnxSb, a novel III–V semimagnetic semiconductor

The Vickers microhardness (MH) of Ga1−xMnxSb, a new III–V semimagnetic semiconductor (SMSC), has been measured as a function of Mn concentration x (03 < x ≤ 0.14) at room temperature. The substitution of Mn for Ga in this system does not result in an appreciable change in MH. In fact, owing to the small difference between the bond lengths of GaSb and MnSb, there is no effective solid solution hardening. Taking this factor into account, a possible explanation for the deviation of the variation in MH with x in this system from the generally observed hardening behaviour in a ternary alloy has been proposed.