| AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures | Thursday Sessions |
| Session MI-ThM |
| Session: | Magnetic Surfaces, Interfaces, Thin Films and Heterostructures |
| Presenter: | O.M.J. van 't Erve, Naval Research Laboratory |
| Authors: | O.M.J. van 't Erve, Naval Research Laboratory A.T. Hanbicki, Naval Research Laboratory M. Holub, Naval Research Laboratory C.H. Li, Naval Research Laboratory C. Awo-Affouda, Naval Research Laboratory G. Kioseoglou, Naval Research Laboratory P.E. Thompson, Naval Research Laboratory B.T. Jonker, Naval Research Laboratory |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The electron’s spin angular momentum is one of several alternative state variables under consideration on the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors for processing information in the fundamentally new ways, which will be required beyond end-of-roadmap CMOS technology. Electrical injection / transport of spin-polarized carriers is prerequisite for developing such an approach. Significant progress has recently been made on spin injection into the technologically important semiconductor, Si, using vertical device structures.1,2 Here we present the electrical injection, detection and magnetic field modulation of lateral diffusive spin transport through silicon using Fe/Al2O3 surface contacts.3 The Fe/Al2O3 tunnel barrier contacts are used to create and analyze the flow of pure spin current in a silicon transport channel. A nonlocal detection technique has been used to exclude spurious contributions from AMR and local Hall effects. The nonlocal signal shows that a spin current can be electrically detected after diffusive transport through the silicon transport channel and the signal depends on the relative orientation of the magnetization of the injecting and detecting contacts. Hanle effect measurements demonstrate that the spin current can be modulated by a perpendicular magnetic field, which causes the spin to precess and dephase in the channel during transport. The realization of efficient electrical injection and detection using tunnel barriers and a simple device geometry compatible with "back-end" Si processing should greatly facilitate development of Si-based spintronics. This work was supported by ONR and core NRL programs.
1 Jonker et. al., Nat. Phys. 3, 542 (2007)
2 Applebaum et. al., Nat. 447, 295 (2007) .
3 van 't Erve et. al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 212109 (2007).