Significant effect of interfacial spin moments in ferromagnet-semiconductor heterojunctions on spin transport in a semiconductor

Article

关键词: GIANT MAGNETORESISTANCE;    ELECTRICAL DETECTION;    ROOM-TEMPERATURE;    ELEMENTS;   

DOI  :  10.1103/PhysRevB.105.195308

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

Using controlled ferromagnet (FM) -semiconductor (SC) interfaces in SC-based lateral spin-valve (LSV) devices, we experimentally study the effect of interfacial spin moments in FM-SC heterojunctions on spin transport in SC. First-principles calculations predict that the spin moment of FM-SC junctions can be artificially reduced by inserting 3d transition metal V, Cr, or Cu atomic layers between FM and SC. When all-epitaxial FM-SC Schottky-tunnel contacts with a 0.4-0.5-nm-thick V, Cr, or Cu interfacial layer are formed, we find that the spin signals in FM-SC LSV devices are significantly decreased at 8 K. When we increase the interfacial spin moment by inserting an similar to 0.3-nm-thick Co layer between FM and SC, the spin signals at 8 K are significantly enhanced again. From these experiments, we conclude that the interfacial spin moments at FM-SC interfaces are one of the important factors to achieve large spin signals even in SC-based spintronic devices.

【 授权许可】

Free