Effects of annealing time on defect-controlled ferromagnetism in Ga1-xMnxAs

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We have studied the evolution of the magnetic, electronic, and structural properties of annealed epilayers of Ga1-xMnxAs grown by low temperature molecular beam epitaxy. Annealing at the optimal temperature of 250 C for less than 2 hours significantly enhances the conductivity and ferromagnetism, but continuing the annealing for longer times suppresses both. These data indicate that such annealing induces the defects in Ga1-xMnxAs to evolve through at least two different processes, and they point to a complex interplay between the different defects and ferromagnetism in this material.