AVS 49th International Symposium
    Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures Monday Sessions
       Session MI+EL-MoM

Invited Paper MI+EL-MoM5
Modeling of Spin Injection into Disordered Semiconductors

Monday, November 4, 2002, 9:40 am, Room C-205

Session: Spintronic Materials and Hybrid Devices
Presenter: E.Y. Tsymbal, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Authors: E.Y. Tsymbal, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
V.M. Burlakov, University of Oxford, UK
I.I. Oleinik, University of South Florida
Correspondent: Click to Email
Spin injection into semiconductors is a topic of growing interest within the field of spin electronics. Developing a realistic model for spin injection is important both for the understanding of basic mechanisms that govern this phenomenon and for the application of spin injection in semiconductor devices. All the existing models so far either take into account a realistic band structure but neglect disorder within the semiconductor or consider phenomenologically defect scattering within a free-electron-type model. This talk will address the approach which combines an accurate description of the atomic structure, the electronic structure, and the conductance within a unique microscopic model. Within this approach the atomic structure is simulated using Metropolis MonteCarlo technique, the electronic structure is modeled using a multiband tight-binding approximation, and the conductance is calculated using the Landauer-Buttiker formalism including inelastic scattering. We will demonstrate results of the application of this model to amorphous silicon - a representative semiconducting material suitable for spin injection. We will discus decisive factors that control the efficiency of spin injection into disordered semiconductors.