Separating interface magnetoresistance from bulk magnetoresistance in silicon-based Schottky heterojunctions device

Abstract

Nonmagnetic semiconductor based magnetoresistance (MR) devices combining high performance and low cost have attracted a lot of attention. However, it has been a great challenge to separate the interface MR from the bulk MR in the devices composed of Schottky heterojunctions. In this paper, the MR effect of a silicon-based Schottky heterojunction device had been studied, and its mechanisms were investigated by separating the interface MR effects from the bulk MR effects through combining two-probe and four-probe methods. We find that the bulk MR value is significantly smaller than the total MR value in the avalanche breakdown region in the temperature range of 150 K to 300 K, indicating that the total MR effect mainly originates from the interface MR effect. Theoretical analysis shows that the bulk MR effect is a normal one due to the existence of the Lorentz force on the carriers, and the interface MR effect relates to the suppression of the local plasmas by applying magnetic fields, where the local plasmas form due to the avalanche breakdown in the Ag/SiO2/p-Si Schottky heterojunctions. The total MR effect at room temperature can be further enhanced by reducing the distance between electrodes, and the total MR reaches about 1847% under a magnetic field of 1 T and the MR sensitivity is as large as 118.5 T−1 under 0.1 T.