The methodology used to obtain the values of the spin-orbit couplings from the spin expectation values from perturbation theory was incorrect. As a result Figs. 2 and 3 are incorrect.
Based on the Gauss law for the electric field, a new integral formula is deduced together with one of its possible applications, in the area of semiconductor junctions, specifically an analytical formula for the built-in potential of diffused semiconductor junctions. The measurement technique for the determination of the built-in voltage is also described.
We predict a novel quantum interference based on the negative refraction across a semiconductor P-N junction: with a local pump on one side of the junction, the response of a local probe on the other side behaves as if the disturbance emanates not from the pump but instead from its mirror image about the junction. This phenomenon is guaranteed by translational invariance of the system and matching of Fermi surfaces of the constituent materials, thus it is robust against other details of the junction (e.g., junction width, potential profile, and even disorder). The recently fabricated P-N junct…
The classical Shockley boundary conditions are used for the determination of the minority carrier concentrations at the edges of the space-charge region of semiconductor p-n junctions. They are usually employed for the calculation of the p-n junction current/ voltage characteristic. This work demonstrates that they are valid only at low injection current levels. New analytical expressions for these boundary conditions are obtained for medium and high injection levels. These expressions are verified by calculating the current/ voltage characteristics of p-n junctions operated at high current le…
Magnetic Tunnel Junction devices find use in several applications based on the exploitation of the Spin-Transfer Torque phenomenon. The Ferromagnetic Resonance curve is a key characteristic of any Magnetic Tunnel Junctions. It is usually characterized both experimentally and numerically by performing a lot of measurements of the magnetic response to a sinusoidal field or current. Here we propose the use of a chirp signal as excitation signal to reconstruct the Ferromagnetic resonance curve with a single measurement/simulation. A micromagnetic comparison of the proposed method with the traditio…
A magnetic tunnel junctions composed of room temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor rutile Ti1-xCoxO2-d and ferromagnetic metal Fe0.1Co0.9 separated by AlOx barrier showed positive tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) with a ratio of ~11 % at 15 K, indicating that Ti1-xCoxO2-d can be used as a spin injection electrode. The TMR decreased with increasing temperature and vanished above 180 K. TMR action at high temperature is likely prohibited by the inelastic tunneling conduction due to the low quality of the amorphous barrier layer and/or the junction interface.
We calculate the current spin polarisation and the interface resistance of Fe/GaAs and Fe/ZnSe (001) spin injection junctions from first principles, including also the possibility of a Schottky barrier. From our results of interface resistance we estimate the barrier thickness needed for efficient spin injection if the process is non-ballistic.
The discovery of reversible 300 K ferromagnetic ordering in a diluted magnetic semiconductor is reported. Switching of room-temperature ferromagnetism between "on" and "off" states is achieved in Co2+:ZnO by lattice incorporation and removal of the native n-type defect, interstitial Zn. Spectroscopic and magnetic data implicate a double-exchange mechanism for ferromagnetism. These results demonstrate for the first time reversible room-temperature ferromagnetic ordering in a diluted magnetic semiconductor, and present new opportunities for integrating magnetism and conductivity in semiconductor…
We demonstrate efficient spin-polarized tunneling between a ferromagnetic metal and a ferromagnetic semiconductor with highly mismatched conductivities. This is indicated by a large tunneling magnetoresistance (up to 30%) at low temperatures in epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions composed of a ferromagnetic metal (MnAs) and a ferromagnetic semiconductor (GaMnAs) separated by a nonmagnetic semiconductor (AlAs). Analysis of the current-voltage characteristics yields detailed information about the asymmetric tunnel barrier. The low temperature conductance-voltage characteristics show a zero bias …
Ability to tailor the nature of the magnetic coupling between two ferromagnetic electrodes can enable the realization of new spintronics device systems. This paper discusses our finding that deposition of an ultrathin tantalum (Ta) on the NiFe top electrode reversed the nature of inter-ferromagnetic electrode coupling. We observed that the deposition of ~ 5 nm Ta on the top of a magnetic tunnel junction with Ta( 2 nm)/Co(5 nm)/NiFe (5 nm)/AlOx( 2 nm)/NiFe (10-15 nm) configuration changed the magnetic coupling between two ferromagnetic electrodes from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic. We inve…
Current-driven magnetization reversal in a ferromagnetic semiconductor based (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs/(Ga,Mn)As magnetic tunnel junction is demonstrated at 30 K. Magnetoresistance measurements combined with current pulse application on a rectangular 1.5 x 0.3 um^2 device revealed that magnetization switching occurs at low critical current densities of 1.1 - 2.2 x 10^5 A/cm^2 despite the presence of spin-orbit interaction in the p-type semiconductor system. Possible mechanisms responsible for the effect are discussed.
Molecular bridges covalently bonded to two ferromagnetic electrodes can transform ferromagnetic materials and produce intriguing spin transport characteristics. This paper discusses the impact of molecule induced strong coupling on spin transport. To study the molecular coupling effect organometallic molecular complex (OMC) was bridged between two ferromagnetic electrodes of a magnetic tunnel junction (Ta/Co/NiFe/AlOx/NiFe/Ta) along the exposed side edges. OMCs induced strong iter-ferromagnetic electrode coupling to yield drastic changes in transport properties of the magnetic tunnel junction …
We study the enhancement of the magnetic transition temperature $T_c$ due to incident light in ferromagnetic semiconductors such as EuS. The photoexcited carriers mediate an extra ferromagnetic interaction due to the coupling with the localized magnetic moments. The Hamiltonian consists of a Heisenberg model for the localized moments and an interaction term between the photoexcited carriers and the localized moments. The model predicts a small enhancement of the transition temperature in semi-quantitative agreement with the experiments.
The Gilbert damping in ferromagnetic semiconductors is theoretically investigated based on the $s$-$d$ model. In contrast to the situation in metals, all the spin-conserving scattering in ferromagnetic semiconductors supplies an additional spin relaxation channel due to the momentum dependent effective magnetic field of the spin-orbit coupling, thereby modifies the Gilbert damping. In the presence of a pure spin current, we predict a new contribution due to the interplay of the anisotropic spin-orbit coupling and a pure spin current.
The recent development of MBE techniques for growth of III-V ferromagnetic semiconductors has created materials with exceptional promise in spintronics, i.e. electronics that exploit carrier spin polarization. Among the most carefully studied of these materials is (Ga,Mn)As, in which meticulous optimization of growth techniques has led to reproducible materials properties and ferromagnetic transition temperatures well above 150 K. We review progress in the understanding of this particular material and efforts to address ferromagnetic semiconductors as a class. We then discuss proposals for how…
We demonstrate the spin valve effect by ballistic transport in fully epitaxial MnAs ferromagnetic metal / GaAs semiconductor / GaAs:MnAs granular hybrid heterostructures. The GaAs:MnAs material contains ferromagnetic MnAs nanoparticles in a GaAs matrix, and acts as a spin injector and a spin detector. Although the barrier height of the GaAs/MnAs interface was found to be very small, relatively large magnetoresistance was observed. This result shows that by using ballistic transport, we can realize a large spin valve effect without inserting a high tunnel barrier at the ferromagnetic metal / se…
The rapidly developing field of ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductors, where a semiconductor host is magnetically doped by transition metal impurities to produce a ferromagnetic semiconductor (e.g. Ga_{1-x}Mn_xAs with x ~ 1-10 %), is discussed with the emphasis on elucidating the physical mechanisms underlying the magnetic properties. Recent key developments are summarized with critical discussions of the roles of disorder, localization, band structure, defects, and the choice of materials in producing good magnetic quality and high Curie temperature. The correlation between magnet…
Using density functional theory calculations we establish the hitherto unknown compound CrCTe$_3$ to be a stable anti-ferromagnetic semiconductor in the R$\bar{3}$ crystal structure with an indirect fundamental gap . Successive layers in the bulk compound are weakly bound by van der Waals forces so that individual layers can be easily exfoliated. A monolayer of CrCTe$_3$ is also an anti-ferromagnetic semiconductor. The monolayer is structurally stable over a large range of compressive and tensile strains, and the anti-ferromagnetic state is robust over this strain range. Band gap of the monola…
Two-dimensional chromium oxide fluoride CrOF sheet was studied based on density functional theory. The investigation indicates that the CrOF sheet is an intrinsic ferromagnetic semiconductor. The calculated low cleavage energy implies that the ferromagnetic semiconductor can be exfoliated from its bulk form. The corresponding Curie temperature is 150 K. In particular, the Curie temperature increases up to 410 K under hole doping and the CrOF sheet becomes a half-metal. The versatile electronic and magnetic properties indicate that the two-dimensional CrOF sheet can be a promising candidate for…
Thicknesses-dependent performance of metal-two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor junctions (MSJ) in electronics/optoelectronics have attracted increasing attention, but till present, people have little knowledge about the micro-mechanism of the thicknesses (or layer-number) dependence. Here, by first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we show that the Fermi-level pinning (FLP) factor of MSJ depends sensitively on the layer-number of few-layer 2D semiconductors, and, an extended FLP theory is proposed for metal-2D multilayered semiconductor junctions (MmSJ). Taking multila…
We consider electron tunneling from a nonmagnetic $n$-type semiconductor ($n$-S) into a ferromagnet (FM) through a very thin forward-biased Schottky barrier resulting in efficient extraction of electron spin from a thin $n$-S layer near FM-S interface at low spin polarization of the current. We show that this effect can be used for an efficient polarization radiation source in a heterostructure where the accumulated spin polarized electrons are injected from $n$-S and recombine with holes in a quantum well. The radiation polarization depends on a bias voltage applied to the FM-S junction.
We report on the resonant tunneling effect and the increase of tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) induced by it in ferromagnetic-semiconductor GaMnAs quantum-well heterostructures. The observed quantum levels of the GaMnAs quantum well were successfully explained by the valence-band kp model with the p-d exchange interaction. It was also found that the Fermi level of the electrode injecting carriers is important to observe resonant tunneling in this system.
The broadband ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) linewidth of the free layer of magnetic tunnel junctions is used as a simple diagnostic of the quality of the magnetic structure. The FMR linewidth increases near the field regions of free layer reversal and pinned layer reversal, and this increase correlates with an increase in magnetic hysteresis in unpatterned films, low frequency noise in patterned devices, and previous observations of magnetic domain ripple by use of Lorentz microscopy. Postannealing changes the free layer FMR linewidth indicating that considerable magnetic disorder, originating…
An overview of recent studies on ferromagnetism in Cr- and Mn-based II-VI diluted magnetic semiconductors is presented emphasizing differences in underlying exchange mechanisms. Examples of manipulations with spin ordering by carrier density, dimensionality, light, and electric field are given.
We demonstrate experimentally the electrical ballistic electron spin injection from a ferromagnetic metal / tunnel barrier contact into a semiconductor III-V heterostructure. We introduce the Oblique Hanle Effect technique for reliable optical measurement of the degree of injected spin polarization. In a CoFe / Al2O3 / GaAs / (Al,Ga)As heterostructure we observed injected spin polarization in excess of 8 % at 80K.
We present a theory of interstitial Mn in Mn-doped ferromagnetic semiconductors. Using density-functional theory, we show that under the non-equilibrium conditions of growth, interstitial Mn is easily formed near the surface by a simple low-energy adsorption pathway. In GaAs, isolated interstitial Mn is an electron donor, each compensating two substitutional Mn acceptors. Within an impurity-band model, partial compensation promotes ferromagnetic order below the metal-insulator transition, with the highest Curie temperature occurring for 0.5 holes per substitutional Mn.
We successfully dope the magnetically silent double perovskite semiconductor Sr2GaSbO6 to induce ferromagnetism and tune its band gap, with Ga3+ partially substituted by the magnetic trivalent cation Mn3+, in a rigid cation ordering with Sb5+. Our new ferromagnetic semiconducting Sr2Ga1-xMnxSbO6 double perovskite, which crystallizes in tetragonal symmetry (space group I4/m) and has tunable ferromagnetic ordering temperature and band gap, suggests that magnetic ion doping of double perovskites is a productive avenue towards obtaining materials for application in next-generation oxide-based spin…
We investigate the spin-dependent tunneling properties in a three-terminal III-V-based ferromagnetic-semiconductor heterostructure with a 2.5-nm-thick GaMnAs quantum well (QW) and double barriers. We successfully control the quantum levels and modulate the spin-dependent current with varying the voltage of the electrode connected to the GaMnAs QW. Our results will open up a new possibility for realizing three-terminal spin resonant-tunneling devices.
We have grown (InyGa1-y)1-xMnxAs ferromagnetic semiconductor layers with Mn composition x up to 0.13 on InP substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Near the lattice-matched composition, i.e., y ~ 0.53, the Curie temperature increases linearly with the ferromagnetically effective Mn composition x_eff, following the empirical equation T_C=1300x_eff. We obtained Curie temperatures above 100 K when x is relatively high (x>0.1; x_eff>0.08) and the hole concentration is in the order of 10^19 cm^-3.
Based on semiconductor materials fundamental equations, the calculation of the depletion region width and barrier capacitance of practical diffused -Gaussian profile- semiconductor junctions was achieved for the first time in this work. The obtained formulas are valid for p-n junctions, Schottky junctions, hetero-junctions and other types of semiconductor junctions.
Scheme and principle of operation of a spin gain transistor are proposed: a large unmagnetized current creates density sufficient for the ferromagnetic transition; a small magnetized current initiates spontaneous magnetization; large magnetized current is extracted. Therefore spin gain of more than 1000 is predicted. Collective dynamics of spins under Coulomb exchange interaction is described via Semiconductor Bloch Equations.
We study the thermopower of a junction between a metal and a strongly correlated semiconductor. Both in the electronic ferroelectric regime and in the Kondo insulator regime the thermoelectric figures of merit, ZT, of these junctions are compared with that of the ordinary semiconductor. By inserting at the interface one or two monolayers of atoms different from the bulk, with a suitable choice of rare-earth elements very high values of ZT can be reached at low temperatures. The potential of the junction as a thermoelectric device is discussed.
Reverse-biased graphene (Gr)/semiconductor Schottky diodes exhibit much enhanced sensitivity for gas sensing. However, carrier transport across the junctions is not fully understood yet. Here, Gr/SiC, Gr/GaAs and Gr/Si Schottky junctions under reverse-bias are investigated by temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements. A reduction in barrier height with increasing reverse-bias is observed for all junctions, suggesting electric-field enhanced thermionic emission. Further analysis of the field dependence of the reverse current reveals that while carrier transport in Gr/SiC Schottky junct…
The dynamical mean field method is used to calculate the frequency and temperature dependent conductivity of dilute magnetic semiconductors. Characteristic qualitative features are found distinguishing weak, intermediate, and strong carrier-spin coupling and allowing quantitative determination of important parameters defining the underlying ferromagnetic mechanism.
We consider theoretically a current flowing perpendicular to interfaces of a spin-valve type ferromagnetic metallic junction. For the first time an effective approach is investigated to calculate a simultaneous action of the two current effects, namely, the nonequilibrium longitudinal spin injection and the transversal spin-transfer surface torque. Dispersion relation for fluctuations is derived and solved. Nonlinear problem is solved about steady state arising due to instability for a thick enough free layer.
We propose a junction of metal and rare-earth compound semiconductor as the basis for a possible efficient low-temperature thermoelectric device. If an overlayer of rare earth atoms differing from the bulk is placed at the interface, very high values of the figure of merit ZT can be reached at low temperature. This is due to sharp variation of the transmission coefficient of carriers across the junction at a narrow energy range, which is intrinsically linked to the localized character of the overlayer f-orbital.
A ferromagnetic semiconductor, rutile (Ti,Co)O2, exhibits anomalous Hall effect at room temperature. Strong dependence of the anomalous Hall effect, as well as the magneto-optic response, on the carrier concentration suggests carrier induced ferromagnetism in this compound. Both ferromagnetic responses are caused by the charge carriers at the band edge of host semiconductor, indicating possibilities of spintronics devices operable at room temperature.
In a diluted magnetic semiconductor system, the exchange interaction between magnetic impurities has two independent components: a direct antiferromagnetic interaction and a ferromagnetic interaction mediated by charge carriers. Depending on the system parameters, the ground state of the system may be ordered either ferromagnetically or randomly. In this paper we use percolation theory to find the ferromagnetic transition temperature and the location of the quantum critical point separating the ferromagnetic phase and a valence bond glass phase.
We predict bistability in the Curie temperature-voltage characteristic of double barrier resonant-tunneling structures with dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor quantum wells. Our conclusions are based on simulations of electrostatics and ballistic quantum transport combined with a mean-field theory description of ferromagnetism in dilute magnetic semiconductors.
We propose a possible route to achieve high thermoelectric efficiency in molecular junctions by combining a local chemical tuning of the molecular electronic states with the use of semiconducting electrodes. The former allows to control the position of the HOMO transmission resonance with respect to the Fermi energy while the latter fulfills a twofold purpose: the suppression of electron-like contributions to the thermopower and the cut-off of the HOMO transmission tails into the semiconductor band gap. As a result a large thermopower can be obtained. Our results strongly suggest that large fi…
The superconducting proximity effect has played an important role in recent work searching for Majorana modes in thin semiconductor devices. Using transport measurements to quantify the changes in the semiconductor caused by the proximity effect provides a measure of dynamical processes such as screening and scattering. However, in a two terminal measurement the resistance due to the interface conductance is in series with resistance of transport in the semiconductor. Both of these change, and it is impossible to separate them without more information. We have devised a new three terminal devi…
The metal-semiconductor (M-S) junction based devices are commonly used in all sorts of electronic devices. Their electrical properties are defined by the metallic phase properties with a respect to the semiconductor used. Here we make an in-depth survey on the origin of the M-S junction at the atomic scale by studying the properties of the AuIn2 nanoelectrodes formed on the InP(001) surface by the in situ electrical measurements in combination with a detailed investigation of atomically resolved structure supported by the first-principle calculations of its local electrical properties. We have…
We propose FeSb2 to be a nearly ferromagnetic small gap semiconductor, hence a direct analog of FeSi. We find that despite different compositions and crystal structures, in the local density approximation with on-site Coulomb repulsion correction (LDA+U) method magnetic and semiconducting solutions for U=2.6 eV are energetically degenerate similar to the case of FeSi. For both FeSb2 and FeSi (FeSi1-xGex alloys) the underlying transition mechanism allows one to switch from a small gap semiconductor to a ferromagnetic metal with magnetic moment 1 muB per Fe ion with external magnetic field.
Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have shown great promise in (opto)electronic applications. However, their developments are limited by a large Schottky barrier (SB) at the metal-semiconductor junction (MSJ), which is difficult to tune by using conventional metals due to the strong Fermi level pinning (FLP) effect. Here we show that, this problem can be overcome by using 2D metals, which are bounded with 2D semiconductors through van der Waals (vdW) interaction. This success relies on a weak FLP at the vdW MSJ, which is attributed to the suppression of metal-induced gap states. Consequently,…
We have studied the finite bias transport properties of a 2H-1T' MoS$_2$ lateral metal-semiconductor (M-S) junction by non-equilibrium Green's functions calculations, aimed at contacting the 2D channel in a field effect transistor. Our results indicate that (a) despite the fundamentally different electrostatics of line and planar dipoles, the Schottky barrier heights respond similarly to changes in doping and applied bias in 2D and 3D M-S junctions, (b) 2H-1T' MoS$_2$ lateral junctions are free from Fermi level pinning, (c) armchair interfaces have superior contacting properties vs.\ zigzag in…
The attainability of modification of the apparent magnetic anisotropy in (III,Mn)V ferromagnetic semiconductors is probed by means of the finite-elements-based modelling. The most representative case of (Ga,Mn)As and its in-plane uniaxial anisotropy is investigated. The hysteresis loops of the continuous films of a ferromagnetic semiconductor as well as films structured with the elliptic antidots are modelled for various eccentricity, orientation, and separation of the anti dots. The effect of anti-dots on the magnetic anisotropy is confirmed but overall is found to be very weak. The subsequen…
We present a general framework to describe the simultaneous para-to-ferromagnetic and semiconductor-to-metal transition in electron-doped EuO. The theory correctly describes detailed experimental features of the conductivity and of the magnetization, in particular the doping dependence of the Curie temperature. The existence of correlation-induced local moments on the impurity sites is essential for this description.
For spin-polarized junctions of ferromagnetically contacting multiple conductive paths, such as ferromagnet (FM)/atomic wires/FM and FM/carbon nanotubes/FM junctions, we theoretically investigate spin-dependent transport to elucidate the intrinsic relation between the number of paths and conduction, and to enhance the magnetoresistance (MR) ratio. When many paths are randomly located between the two FMs, electronic wave interference between the FMs appears, and then the MR ratio increases with increasing number of paths. Furthermore, at each number of paths, the MR ratio for carbon nanotubes b…
In considering a novel function in ferromagnetic tunnel junctions consisting of ferromagnet(FM)/barrier/FM junctions, we theoretically investigate multiple valued (or multi-level) cell property, which is in principle realized by sensing conductances of four states recorded with magnetization configurations of two FMs; that is, (up,up), (up,down), (down,up), (down,down). To obtain such 4-valued conductances, we propose FM1/spin-polarized barrier/FM2 junctions, where the FM1 and FM2 are different ferromagnets, and the barrier has spin dependence. The proposed idea is applied to the case of the b…