The influence of the magnetic configuration on the charge current generated by the temperature gradient in the double planar ferromagnetic tunnel junctions

Abstract

The charge current generated by the temperature gradient applied to the double planar tunnel junctions with ferromagnetic external electrodes and central layer is investigated in the free-electron model. The situation when the bias voltage is applied to the junction is also considered. It has been shown that the analyzed current may depend on the orientation of magnetic moments in the ferromagnetic external electrodes and the central layer. The influence of the magnetic configuration on the tunnel current can be enhanced due to the resonant tunneling by the resonant states. Especially strong modifications of the current flowing through the junction can be observed as a result of changing the orientation of the magnetic moments in the central layer in junctions where the tunneling by the resonant states located below the bottom for the spin-down electrons in the source electrode is observed. The studied effects are strongly depended on the thickness of the central layer, spin splitting of the electron bands in the external electrodes and in the central layer, and the bias voltage applied to the junctions, but are also sensitive to the average temperature of the junction and the height and width of the barriers, whereas they are less sensitive to the temperature difference between the electrodes.