Manganese phosphide thin films and nanorods grown on gallium phosphide and on glass substrates

•A simple route to grow MnP films and nanorods on glass substrates is demonstrated.•MnP nanorods grow on MnP grains at higher temperatures and longer growth times.•Magnetic order transition temperatures of MnP films depend on growth conditions.

We report a simple and fast route to grow ferromagnetic manganese phosphide polycrystalline films and nanorods on GaP and on glass substrates using metalorganic vapor phase deposition. Increasing the growth temperature (≥600 °C) and growth time (≥30 min) results in nucleation of secondary MnP crystals on the primary grains. The secondary crystals grow faster along a specific direction of orthorhombic MnP (c-axis) and form long rods (up to ~10 μm) whose diameters are in the nanoscale (20–100 nm). The nanorods can be easily detached from the glass substrate. The films exhibit ferromagnetic behavior with a range of transition temperatures, depending on the growth conditions.