Abstract
We report a large but asymmetric magnetoresistance in silicon p-n junctions, which contrasts with the fact of magnetoresistance being symmetric in magnetic metals and semiconductors. With temperature decreasing from 293 K to 100 K, the magnetoresistance sharply increases from 50% to 150% under a magnetic field of 2 T. At the same time, an asymmetric magnetoresistance, which manifests itself as a magnetoresistance voltage offset with respect to the sign of magnetic field, occurs and linearly increases with magnetoresistance. More interestingly, in contrast with other materials, the lineshape of anisotropic magnetoresistance in silicon p-n junctions significantly depends on temperature. As temperature decreases from 293 K to 100 K, the width of peak shrinks from 90° to 70°. We ascribe these novel magnetoresistance to the asymmetric geometry of the space charge region in p-n junction induced by the magnetic field. In the vicinity of the space charge region the current paths are deflected, contributing the Hall field to the asymmetric magnetoresistance. Therefore, the observed temperature-dependent asymmetry of magnetoresistance is proved to be a direct consequence of the spatial configuration evolution of space charge region with temperature.
Highlights
Ordinary MR is relatively weak compared to those reported in magnetic materials, but the common MR symmetry still holds
We report an observation of two asymmetric MR features in the silicon p-n junctions
These are both contrast with the conventional materials. We ascribe these newly discovered asymmetric MR of p-n junctions to the asymmetric geometry of the space charge region induced by the magnetic field, in which the current path deflection contributes the Hall field to the asymmetry of MR
Summary
Ordinary MR is relatively weak compared to those reported in magnetic materials, but the common MR symmetry still holds. This situation is changed in some novel nonmagnetic materials such as doped silver chalcogenide[9,10], indium antimonide[11], niobium selenium[12], iron diantinomide[13], gallium arsenide[14], germanium[15] and silicon[16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]. By systematically measuring the angular dependence of MR, we further found the lineshape of AMR is temperature-dependent These are both contrast with the conventional materials. We ascribe these newly discovered asymmetric MR of p-n junctions to the asymmetric geometry of the space charge region induced by the magnetic field, in which the current path deflection contributes the Hall field to the asymmetry of MR
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