Magnetic field-driven spintronic logic gates in one-dimensional manganese phthalocyanine nanoribbons based molecular spintronic devices

Abstract

Abstract Along with the development of molecular electronics and spintronics, how to realize logic operation in nanoscale molecular devices has been a key issue. Thus it is essential to achieve basic logic gates in a small scale, which are the fundamental elements of digital circuits. By using nonequilibrium Green's function method and density functional theory, we propose an ideal candidate: one-dimensional (1D) manganese phthalocyanine nanoribbons (MnPcNRs), with half-metallic characteristics for making spintronic logic gates. Firstly, we calculate the spin transport properties of 1D MnPcNRs, in which the spin orientation of different areas can be changed by applying magnetic fields. Nearly 100% spin-polarized current can be generated and tuned by a proper magnetic configuration in these two-terminal MnPcNRs devices. Moreover, giant magnetoresistance, negative different resistance and dual-orientation spin rectification effects can be also detected in these devices. These unique transport properties are attributed to the intrinsic transmission selection rule of the wave function of spin subbands near the Fermi level in 1D MnPcNRs. More interestingly, the current-voltage relationships under the control of magnetic configuration of different areas in MnPcNR devices can be used to design spin logic devices. It is worth mentioning that the design proposal we suggested realizes to implement multiple logic operations in a single device. Our result suggests the application potential of 1D MnPcNRs in future nanoelectronics, and also provides a feasible solution to design spintronic integrated circuit in atomic scale.