Lateral Spin-valve Devices Research Articles

Intrinsic spin transport properties observed in contamination-free graphene-based spin valve

Graphene-based spintronics has attracted great interest while the spin transport and relaxation in clean graphene at low temperatures are still unrevealed. Here, we present an all-dry van der Waals transfer technique to fabricate contamination-free single-layer graphene based lateral spin valve devices. We have obtained a non-local resistance as large as 125 Ω and a spin lifetime of up to 2.47 ns at room temperature simultaneously. Strikingly, an unexpected temperature dependence of spin transport has been observed, where the spin lifetime τ and the spin diffusion length λ decrease with decreasing temperatures below 150 K (τmin = 2 ns, λmin = 10.7 μm at 1.5 K and τmax = 4.63 ns, λmax = 14.5 μm at 150 K). By measuring the oblique Hanle spin precession, we find that the spin-lifetime anisotropy of our device is more pronounced out-of-plane at 75 K. This suggests that the spin relaxation in clean graphene is more effected by the out-of-plane spin orbit field or gauge fields at low temperatures. Our results provide new insight into the fundamental spin transport of graphene, paving a way for their practical applications in spintronics.

An all phosphorene lattice nanometric spin valve

Phosphorene is a unique semiconducting two-dimensional platform for enabling spintronic devices integrated with phosphorene nanoelectronics. Here, we have designed an all phosphorene lattice lateral spin valve device, conceived via patterned magnetic substituted atoms of 3d-block elements at both ends of a phosphorene nanoribbon acting as ferromagnetic electrodes in the spin valve. Through First-principles based calculations, we have extensively studied the spin-dependent transport characteristics of the new spin valve structures. Systematic exploration of the magnetoresistance (MR) of the spin valve for various substitutional atoms and bias voltage resulted in a phase diagram offering a colossal MR for V and Cr-substitutional atoms. Such MR can be directly attributed to their specific electronic structure, which can be further tuned by a gate voltage, for electric field controlled spin valves. The spin-dependent transport characteristics here reveal new features such as negative conductance oscillation and switching of the sign of MR due to change in the majority spin carrier type. Our study creates possibilities for the design of nanometric spin valves, which could enable integration of memory and logic elements for all phosphorene 2D processors.

Strong In-Plane Magnetization and Spin Polarization in (Co0.15Fe0.85)5GeTe2/Graphene van der Waals Heterostructure Spin-Valve at Room Temperature.

Van der Waals (vdW) magnets are promising, because of their tunable magnetic properties with doping or alloy composition, where the strength of magnetic interactions, their symmetry, and magnetic anisotropy can be tuned according to the desired application. However, so far, most of the vdW magnet-based spintronic devices have been limited to cryogenic temperatures with magnetic anisotropies favoring out-of-plane or canted orientation of the magnetization. Here, we report beyond room-temperature lateral spin-valve devices with strong in-plane magnetization and spin polarization of the vdW ferromagnet (Co0.15Fe0.85)5GeTe2 (CFGT) in heterostructures with graphene. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the magnitude of the anisotropy depends on the Co concentration and is caused by the substitution of Co in the outermost Fe layer. Magnetization measurements reveal the above room-temperature ferromagnetism in CFGT and clear remanence at room temperature. Heterostructures consisting of CFGT nanolayers and graphene were used to experimentally realize basic building blocks for spin valve devices, such as efficient spin injection and detection. Further analysis of spin transport and Hanle spin precession measurements reveals a strong in-plane magnetization with negative spin polarization at the interface with graphene, which is supported by the calculated spin-polarized density of states of CFGT. The in-plane magnetization of CFGT at room temperature proves its usefulness in graphene lateral spin-valve devices, thus revealing its potential application in spintronic technologies.

Spin injection into heavily-doped n-GaN via Schottky barrier

Spin injection and detection in bulk GaN were investigated by performing magnetotransport measurements at low temperatures. A non-local four-terminal lateral spin valve device was fabricated with Co/GaN Schottky contacts. The spin injection efficiency of 21% was achieved at 1.7 K. It was confirmed that the thin Schottky barrier formed between the heavily n-doped GaN and Co was conducive to the direct spin tunneling, by reducing the spin scattering relaxation through the interface states.

A Room-Temperature Spin-Valve with van der Waals Ferromagnet Fe5 GeTe2 /Graphene Heterostructure.

The discovery of van der Waals (vdW) magnets opened a new paradigm for condensed matter physics and spintronic technologies. However, the operations of active spintronic devices with vdW ferromagnets are limited to cryogenic temperatures, inhibiting their broader practical applications. Here, the robust room-temperature operation of lateral spin-valve devices using the vdW itinerant ferromagnet Fe5 GeTe2 in heterostructures with graphene is demonstrated. The room-temperature spintronic properties of Fe5 GeTe2 are measured at the interface with graphene with a negative spin polarization. Lateral spin-valve and spin-precession measurements provide unique insights by probing the Fe5 GeTe2 /graphene interface spintronic properties via spin-dynamics measurements, revealing multidirectional spin polarization. Density functional theory calculations in conjunction with Monte Carlo simulations reveal significantly canted Fe magnetic moments in Fe5 GeTe2 along with the presence of negative spin polarization at the Fe5 GeTe2 /graphene interface. These findings open opportunities for vdW interface design and applications of vdW-magnet-based spintronic devices at ambient temperatures.

Effect of Strain on Room-Temperature Spin Transport in Si0.1Ge0.9

We report a strain effect on spin transport in semiconductors that exhibit $\mathrm{Ge}$-like conduction bands at room temperature. Using four-terminal nonlocal spin-transport measurements in lateral spin-valve devices, we experimentally estimate the spin diffusion length ($\ensuremath{\lambda}$) of $\mathrm{Ge}$ and strained ${\mathrm{Si}}_{0.1}{\mathrm{Ge}}_{0.9}$ with two different carrier concentrations. Despite the $\mathrm{Ge}$-like electronic band structure, the obtained $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ of a strained ${\mathrm{Si}}_{0.1}{\mathrm{Ge}}_{0.9}$ is comparable to that of a $\mathrm{Si}$ channel. We discuss a possible mechanism of the strain-induced enhancement of $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ at room temperature. As a consequence, we demonstrate the electrical detection of 5-$\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ lateral spin transport in the strained ${\mathrm{Si}}_{0.1}{\mathrm{Ge}}_{0.9}$ by applying an electric field at room temperature.

Temperature Dependence of Two-Terminal Local Magnetoresistance in Co-Based Heusler Alloy/Ge Lateral Spin-Valve Devices

We investigate temperature dependence of two-terminal local magnetoresistance (MR) effect for germanium (Ge)-based lateral spin-valve (LSV) devices with three different ferromagnet (FM)/Ge Schottky tunnel contacts. When we insert a 0.7-nm-thick Fe layer between Co-based Heusler alloy and Ge interfaces in LSV devices, the magnitude of the local MR signals is significantly improved from low temperatures to room temperature. However, the temperature dependence of the MR ratio is still large even for LSV devices with Fe insertion. From the analysis based on the standard theory, the temperature-dependent MR ratio can be interpreted in terms of thermally excited spin waves ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T^{3/{2}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> law) in FM contacts. The physical origin of the decay of the two-terminal MR ratio in Ge-based LSV devices is the same as that of the four-terminal nonlocal spin signals because small temperature dependence of contact resistance is demonstrated in FM/Ge Schottky tunnel contacts which show almost linear <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$|J|$ </tex-math></inline-formula> – <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V$ </tex-math></inline-formula> characteristics and low interface resistance.

Reliability of spin-to-charge conversion measurements in graphene-based lateral spin valves

Understanding spin physics in graphene is crucial for developing future two-dimensional spintronic devices. Recent studies show that efficient spin-to-charge conversions (SCCs) via either the inverse spin Hall effect or the inverse Rashba–Edelstein effect (IREE) can be achieved in graphene by proximity with an adjacent spin–orbit coupling (SOC) material. Lateral spin valve devices, made up of a graphene Hall bar and ferromagnets, are best suited for such studies. Here, we report that signals mimicking the IREE can be measured in pristine graphene possessing negligible SOC, confirming that these signals are unrelated to SCC. We identify either the anomalous Hall effect in the ferromagnet or the ordinary Hall effect in graphene induced by stray fields as the possible sources of this artefact. By quantitatively comparing these options with finite-element-method simulations, we conclude the latter better explains our results. Our study deepens the understanding of SCC measurement schemes in graphene, which should be taken into account when designing future experiments.

Experimental extraction of donor-driven spin relaxation in n -type nondegenerate germanium

Using pure spin current transport measurements in lateral spin-valve devices, we study the spin relaxation in an $n$-type nondegenerate Ge layer, which is moderately doped Ge (P: $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{18}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$). The obtained spin diffusion length $({\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\mathrm{Ge}})$ of the nondegenerate Ge is two to three times greater than that of heavily doped degenerate Ge (P: $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{19}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$) in the temperature range from 8 to 100 K. We find that the electron spin lifetime ($\ensuremath{\tau}$) for the nondegenerate Ge is monotonically increased with decreasing temperature $(T)$. The increase in $\ensuremath{\tau}$ at temperatures less than 50 K can be interpreted in terms of the donor-driven spin relaxation mechanism including the 1/$\sqrt{T}$ behavior in multivalley semiconductors, proposed by Song et al. [Y. Song, O. Chalaev, and H. Dery, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 167201 (2014)]. We note that it is important for the $\ensuremath{\tau}$ of the moderately doped nondegenerate Ge to partly consider the $T$-independent component of spin relaxation in addition to the 1/$\sqrt{T}$ component.

Revealing the importance of interfaces for pure spin current transport

The authors measure spin transport and spin absorption across interfaces in lateral spin-valve devices and correlate this electrical characterization to direct imaging of the defect structure of the buried interfaces.

Effect of Fe atomic layers at the ferromagnet–semiconductor interface on temperature-dependent spin transport in semiconductors

Using artificially controlled ferromagnet (FM)–semiconductor (SC) interfaces, we study the decay of the nonlocal spin signals with increasing temperature in SC-based lateral spin-valve devices. When more than five atomic layers of Fe are inserted at the FM/SC interfaces, the temperature-dependent spin injection/detection efficiency (Pinj/det) can be interpreted in terms of the T32 law, meaning a model of the thermally excited spin waves in the FM electrodes. For the FM/SC interfaces with the insufficient insertion of Fe atomic layers, on the other hand, the decay of Pinj/det is more rapid than the T32 curve. Using magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements, we find that more than five atomic layers of Fe inserted between FM and SC enable us to enhance the ferromagnetic nature of the FM/SC heterointerfaces. Thus, the ferromagnetism in the ultra-thin FM layer just on top of SC is strongly related to the temperature-dependent nonlocal spin transport in SC-based lateral spin-valve devices. We propose that the sufficient ferromagnetism near the FM/SC interface is essential for high-performance FM–SC hybrid devices above room temperature.

Room-temperature two-terminal magnetoresistance ratio reaching 0.1% in semiconductor-based lateral devices with L21-ordered Co2MnSi

We report on the highest two-terminal magnetoresistance (MR) ratio at room temperature in semiconductor-based lateral spin-valve devices. From first-principles calculations, we predict energetically stable ferromagnet–semiconductor heterointerfaces consisting of Co2MnSi (CMS) and Ge(111) upon insertion of Fe atomic layers. Using low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy, we demonstrate L21-ordered CMS epilayers at 80 °C on Ge(111), where the CMS layer can be utilized as a spin injector and detector. Two-terminal MR ratios as high as 0.1% are achieved in n-Ge-based lateral spin-valve devices with CMS/Fe/Ge Schottky tunnel contacts annealed at 200 °C. This study will open a path for semiconductor-based spintronic devices with a large MR ratio at room temperature.

Spin injection through energy-band symmetry matching with high spin polarization in atomically controlled ferromagnet/ferromagnet/semiconductor structures

Electrical injection of spin-polarized electrons from ferromagnets into semiconductors has been generally demonstrated through a tunneling process with insulator barrier layers that can dominate the device performance, including the electric power at the electrodes. Here, we show an efficient spin injection technique for a semiconductor using an atomically controlled ferromagnet/ferromagnet/semiconductor heterostructure with low-resistive Schottky-tunnel barriers. On the basis of symmetry matching of the electronic bands between the top highly spin-polarized ferromagnet and the semiconductor, the magnitude of the spin signals in lateral spin-valve devices can be enhanced by up to one order of magnitude compared to those obtained with conventional ferromagnet/semiconductor structures. This approach provides a new solution for the simultaneous achievement of highly efficient spin injection and low electric power at the electrodes in semiconductor devices, leading to novel semiconductor spintronic architectures at room temperature.

Suppression of Donor-Driven Spin Relaxation in Strained Si0.1Ge0.9

We experimentally study the strain effect on electron spin relaxation in a semiconductor using nonlocal spin-transport measurements in lateral spin-valve devices. Application of in-plane and biaxial tensile strain to a (111)-oriented and heavily doped $n\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{type}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Si}}_{0.1}{\mathrm{Ge}}_{0.9}$ layer leads to lifting of the valley degeneracy in the conduction band and to reduction of the electron's effective mass, resulting in increased electron mobility. Nonlocal four-terminal spin signals in the strained-${\mathrm{Si}}_{0.1}{\mathrm{Ge}}_{0.9}$ lateral spin-valve devices are markedly enhanced and the estimated spin lifetime becomes 3 times longer than that in strain-free devices at low temperatures. On the basis of a comparison of the experimental data and recent theories, we propose that only the donor-driven intervalley spin-flip scattering of electrons at low temperatures is partly suppressed for the strained and heavily doped ${\mathrm{Si}}_{0.1}{\mathrm{Ge}}_{0.9}$.

Inverse local magnetoresistance effect up to room temperature in ferromagnet-semiconductor lateral spin-valve devices

We find relatively large inverse local two-terminal magnetoresistance (MR) effect in ferromagnet (FM)/semiconductor (SC) lateral spin-valve devices. The local MR as a function of the bias voltage applied between two FM/SC contacts shows nonlinear variation, including sign inversion in high bias-voltage conditions. The inverse local MR can be observed up to room temperature, while conventional positive local MR disappears at around 225 K. To consider the origin of the large inverse MR effect, the influence of the nonlinear spin-detection efficiency at a biased FM/SC contact and the spin-drift effect in the SC channel are discussed.

Large spin signals in n+-Si/MgO/Co2Fe0.4Mn0.6Si lateral spin-valve devices

The spin polarization factor was investigated using electrical spin injection at low temperatures in n+-Si(100)/MgO/ferromagnet lateral spin-valve devices with Co2Fe0.4Mn0.6Si (CFMS) and CoFe electrodes. CFMS films were annealed at different post-annealing temperatures (Ta). Although atomic diffusion of CFMS into the silicon channel was observed at high annealing temperatures, the CFMS device annealed at a Ta of 350 °C, clearly showing a narrow Hanle signal measured using the three-terminal Hanle effect; a consistent spin relaxation time of 7.1 ± 0.4 ns and spin diffusion length of 1.6 ± 0.2 μm were obtained at 10 K. A local three-terminal spin-valve (L-3TSV) signal from the CFMS lateral spin-valve device was obtained at about 370 μV, three times larger than that of the CoFe device. The tunnel spin polarization factor was evaluated from the L-3TSV signals by an analytical equation that considered the spin drift effect. The estimated tunnel spin polarization factor for CFMS was 45% at a Vbias of about 600 mV, while that for CoFe was 18%. This result indicates that the high spin polarization of CFMS is responsible for the large intensity of the L-3TSV signal and that CFMS is a promising FM material for electrical spin injection into silicon.

Large magnetoresistance and spin-dependent output voltage in a lateral MnGa/GaAs/MnGa spin-valve device

We investigated the spin-dependent transport properties of a lateral spin-valve device with a 600 nm long GaAs channel and perpendicularly magnetized MnGa electrodes. Its current–voltage characteristics show nonlinear behavior below 50 K, indicating that tunnel transport through the MnGa/GaAs Schottky barrier is dominant at low temperatures. We observed large magnetoresistance (MR) ratios up to 12% at 4 K when applying a magnetic field perpendicular to the film plane. Furthermore, a large spin-dependent output voltage of 33 mV is obtained. These values are the highest in lateral ferromagnetic metal/semiconductor/ferromagnetic metal spin-valve devices.

Nonmonotonic bias dependence of local spin accumulation signals in ferromagnet/semiconductor lateral spin-valve devices

We find extraordinary behavior of the local two-terminal spin accumulation signals in ferromagnet (FM)/semiconductor (SC) lateral spin-valve devices. With respect to the bias voltage applied between two FM/SC Schottky tunnel contacts, the local spin-accumulation signal can show nonmonotonic variations, including a sign inversion. A part of the nonmonotonic features can be understood qualitatively by considering the rapid reduction in the spin polarization of the FM/SC interfaces with increasing bias voltage. In addition to the sign inversion of the FM/SC interface spin polarization, the influence of the spin-drift effect in the SC layer and the nonlinear electrical spin conversion at a biased FM/SC contact are discussed.

Evaluation of spin diffusion length and spin Hall angle of the antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Mn3Sn

Antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Mn$_3$Sn has shown to generate strong intrinsic anomalous Hall effect (AHE) at room temperature, due to large momentum-space Berry curvature from the time-reversal symmetry breaking electronic bands of the Kagome planes. This prompts us to investigate intrinsic spin Hall effect, a transverse phenomenon with identical origin as the intrinsic AHE. We report inverse spin Hall effect experiments in nanocrystalline Mn$_3$Sn nanowires at room temperature using spin absorption method which enables us to quantitatively derive both the spin diffusion length and the spin Hall angle in the same device. We observed clear absorption of the spin current in the Mn$_3$Sn nanowires when kept in contact with the spin transport channel of a lateral spin-valve device. We estimate spin diffusion length $\lambda_{s(Mn_3Sn)}$ $\sim$0.75 $\pm$0.67 nm from the comparison of spin signal of an identical reference lateral spin valve without Mn$_3$Sn nanowire. From inverse spin Hall measurements, we evaluate spin Hall angle $\theta_{SH}$ $\sim$5.3 $\pm$ 2.4 $\%$ and spin Hall conductivity $\sigma_{SH}$ $\sim$46.9 $\pm$ 3.4 ($\hbar/e$) ($\Omega$ cm)$^{-1}$. The estimated spin Hall conductivity agrees with both in sign and magnitude to the theoretically predicted intrinsic $\sigma_{SH}^{int}$ $\sim$36-96 ($\hbar/e$) ($\Omega$ cm)$^{-1}$. We also observed anomalous Hall effect at room temperature in nano-Hall bars prepared at the same time as the spin Hall devices. Large anomalous Hall conductivity along with adequate spin Hall conductivity makes Mn$_3$Sn a promising material for ultrafast and ultrahigh-density spintronics devices.

Lateral silicon spin-valve devices with large spin-dependent magnetoresistance and output voltage

We investigated the spin transport in nanoscale silicon (Si)-based spin-valve devices with a 20 nm Si channel and a Fe/(Mg)/MgO/Ge stack as the spin injector/detector. By optimizing the MgO barrier thickness, we achieved a large spin-dependent output voltage of 25 mV at 15 K. Furthermore, by inserting an ultrathin (1 nm) Mg layer between the the Fe layer and the tunnel barrier MgO layer to prevent the formation of a magnetically-dead layer, we have increased the spin-valve ratio up to –3.6% at 15 K. These are the highest values reported in lateral Si-based spin-valve devices.