Two ferromagnetic films separated by an amorphous semiconducting spacer are
exchange coupled across the spacer layer. The coupling is reversibly tempe
rature dependent with a positive temperature coefficient. As spacer materia
l we use amorphous ZnSe which is a compound semiconductor and find heat-ind
uced antiferromagnetic coupling in striking similarity to amorphous Si and
Ge. In an Fe/alpha-ZnSe/Fe trilayer with spacer thickness between 18 Angstr
om and 22 Angstrom the coupling is antiferromagnetic with a positive temper
ature coefficient. At slightly larger thicknesses between 22 Angstrom and 2
5 Angstrom we find a reversible transition from ferromagnetic coupling at l
ow temperatures to antiferromagnetic coupling at higher temperatures upon h
eating. We discuss the reversibly heat-induced effective exchange coupling
in terms of localized defect states in the band gap in the vicinity of the
Fermi energy. [S0163-1829(99)04230-7].