Realization of a Sub 10-nm Silicene Magnetic Tunnel Junction and Its Application for Magnetic Random Access Memory and Digital Logic

Abstract

Silicene has attracted the research interest due to its excellent electronic and spin properties. Furthermore, CrO2 half metal due to its high Curie temperature and high spin polarization is well suited for electrodes. In this work, we have simulated the magnetic tunnel junction device consisting of CrO2 electrodes and Silicene as a scattering region. The device is in a sub 10-nm regime, hence supports high integration density. The bias dependent spin transport properties (I-V characteristics and transmission spectrum) of the modeled device were calculated by Atomistic Tool Kit software, which uses density functional theory and non-equilibrium Greens function formalism. The device shows large tunnel magnetoresistance of 640%, depicting the potential application of the proposed device. The spin-dependent transmission spectrum, band structure, semi-conductor theory has been discussed to explain the origin of the spin-dependent transport characteristics. Moreover, an efficient method for MRAM (magnetic random access memory) read/write operation has been discussed. Furthermore, a NAND gate from a single modeled MTJ device has been realized, a half adder has also been realized from the modeled device to explore the potential of the modeled device for the implementation of complex digital functions.