Recent Advances in Molecular Spintronics: Multifunctional Spintronic Devices

The field of spintronics has triggered an enormous revolution in information storage since the first observation of giant magnetoresistance (GMR). Molecular semiconductors are characterized by having very long spin relaxation times up to milliseconds, and are thus widely considered to hold immense potential for spintronic applications. Along with the development of molecular spintronics, it is clear that the study of multipurpose spintronic devices has gradually grown into a new research and development direction. The abundant photoelectric properties of molecular semiconductors and the intriguing functionality of the spinterface, together with novel designs of device structures, have promoted the integration of multiple functions and different mechanisms into discrete spintronic devices. Here, according to the different relationships between the integrated mechanisms, multifunctional molecular spintronic devices containing parallel and interactive types are highlighted. This is followed by the introduction of pure‐spin‐current‐type molecular spintronic devices that have already demonstrated great potential for multifunction exploration. Finally, the challenges and outlook that make this field young and energetic are outlined.     

Ionic Modulation of the Interfacial Magnetism in a Bilayer System Comprising a Heavy Metal and a Magnetic Insulator for Voltage‐Tunable Spintronic Devices

The voltage modulation of yttrium iron garnet (YIG) is of practical and theoretical significance; due to its advantages of compactness, high‐speed response, and energy efficiency, it can be used for various spintronic applications, including spin‐Hall, spin‐pumping, and spin‐Seebeck effects. In this study, a significant ferromagnetic resonance change is achieved within the YIG/Pt bilayer heterostructures uisng ionic modulation, which is accomplished by modifying the interfacial magnetism in the deposited “capping” platinum layer. With a small voltage bias of 4.5 V, a large ferromagnetic field shift of 690 Oe is achieved in heterostructures of YIG (13 nm)/Pt (3 nm)/(ionic liquid, IL)/(Au capacitor). The remarkable magnetoelectric (ME) tunability comes from the additional and voltage‐induced ferromagnetic ordering, caused by uncompensated d‐orbital electrons in the Pt metal layer. Confirmed by first‐principle calculations, this finding paves the way for novel voltage‐tunable YIG‐based spintronics.     

Giant Piezospintronic Effect in a Noncollinear Antiferromagnetic Metal

One of the main bottleneck issues for room-temperature antiferromagnetic spintronic devices is the small signal read-out owing to the limited anisotropic magnetoresistance in antiferromagnets. However, this could be overcome by either utilizing the Berry-curvature-induced anomalous Hall resistance in noncollinear antiferromagnets or establishing tunnel-junction devices based on effective manipulation of antiferromagnetic spins. In this work, the giant piezoelectric strain modulation of the spin structure and the anomalous Hall resistance in a noncollinear antiferromagnetic metal—D0₁₉ hexagonal Mn₃Ga—is demonstrated. Furthermore, tunnel-junction devices are built with a diameter of 200 nm to amplify the maximum tunneling resistance ratio to more than 10% at room-temperature, which thus implies significant potential of noncollinear antiferromagnets for large signal-output and high-density antiferromagnetic spintronic device applications.     

Strong tuning of Rashba spin-orbit interaction in single InAs nanowires

A key concept in the emerging field of spintronics is the gate voltage or electric field control of spin precession via the effective magnetic field generated by the Rashba spin-orbit interaction. Here, we demonstrate the generation and tuning of electric field induced Rashba spin-orbit interaction in InAs nanowires where a strong electric field is created by either a double gate or a solid electrolyte surrounding gate. In particular, the electrolyte gating enables 6-fold tuning of Rashba coefficient and nearly 3 orders of magnitude tuning of spin relaxation time within only 1 V of gate bias. Such a dramatic tuning of spin-orbit interaction in nanowires may have implications in nanowire-based spintronic devices.     

Power dissipation in spintronic devices: a general perspective

Champions of "spintronics" often claim that spin based signal processing devices will vastly increase speed and/or reduce power dissipation compared to traditional 'charge based' electronic devices. Yet, not a single spintronic device exists today that can lend credence to this claim. Here, I show that no spintronic device that clones conventional electronic devices, such as field effect transistors and bipolar junction transistors, is likely to reduce power dissipation significantly. For that to happen, spin-based devices must forsake the transistor paradigm of switching states by physical movement of charges, and instead, switch states by flipping spins of stationary charges. An embodiment of this approach is the "single spin logic" idea proposed more than 10 years ago. Here, I revisit that idea and present estimates of the switching speed and power dissipation. I show that the Single Spin Switch is far superior to the Spin Field Effect Transistor (or any of its clones) in terms of power dissipation. I also introduce the notion of "matrix element engineering" which will allow one to switch devices without raising and lowering energy barriers between logic states, thereby circumventing the kTln2 limit on energy dissipation. Finally, I briefly discuss single spin implementations of classical reversible (adiabatic) logic.     

Anisotropic Magneto‐Coulomb Properties of 2D–0D Heterostructure Single Electron Device

Fabrication and spintronics properties of 2D–0D heterostructures are reported. Devices based on graphene (“Gr”)–aluminium nanoclusters heterostructures show robust and reproducible single‐electron transport features, in addition to spin‐dependent functionality when using a top magnetic electrode. The magnetic orientation of this single ferromagnetic electrode enables the modulation of the environmental charge experienced by the aluminium nanoclusters. This anisotropic magneto‐Coulomb effect, originating from spin–orbit coupling within the ferromagnetic electrode, provides tunable spin valve‐like magnetoresistance signatures without the requirement of spin coherent charge tunneling. These results extend the capability of Gr to act both as electrode and as a platform for the growth of 2D–0D mixed‐dimensional van der Waals heterostructures, providing magnetic functionalities in the Coulomb blockade regime on scalable spintronic devices. These heterostructures pave the way towards novel device architectures at the crossroads of 2D material physics and spin electronics.     

Advances in Different Kinds of Half-Metallic Materials

Spintronics is attracting increasing attention due to the potential applications of spintronic devices in information storage, microprocessors, and a host of other technologies. Half-metal, as one of the most important spin injection source in spintronics, should be investigated deeply. Based on the above reason, this paper briefly summarizes the research progress of different kinds of half-metallic materials, and research orientations related to half-metallic materials are also proposed.     

Magnetic Proximity Effect in Graphene/CrBr3 van der Waals Heterostructures

2D van der Waals heterostructures serve as a promising platform to exploit various physical phenomena in a diverse range of novel spintronic device applications. Efficient spin injection is the prerequisite for these devices. The recent discovery of magnetic 2D materials leads to the possibility of fully 2D van der Waals spintronics devices by implementing spin injection through the magnetic proximity effect (MPE). Here, the investigation of MPE in 2D graphene/CrBr₃ van der Waals heterostructures is reported, which is probed by the Zeeman spin Hall effect through non-local measurements. Quantitative estimation of the Zeeman splitting field demonstrates a significant MPE field even in a low magnetic field. Furthermore, the observed anomalous longitudinal resistance changes at the Dirac point R_XX,D with increasing magnetic field near ν = 0 may be attributed to the MPE-induced new ground state phases. This MPE revealed in the graphene/CrBr₃ van der Waals heterostructures therefore provides a solid physics basis and key functionality for next-generation 2D spin logic and memory devices.     

Spin‐Gapless Semiconductors

The spin‐gapless semiconductors (SGSs) are a new class of zero‐gap materials which have fully spin polarized electrons and holes. They bridge the zero‐gap materials and the half‐metals. The band structures of the SGSs can have two types of energy dispersion: Dirac linear dispersion and parabolic dispersion. The Dirac‐type SGSs exhibit fully spin polarized Dirac cones, and offer a platform for massless and fully spin polarized spintronics as well as dissipationless edge states via the quantum anomalous Hall effect. With fascinating spin and charge states, they hold great potential for spintronics. There have been tremendous efforts worldwide to find suitable candidates for SGSs. In particular, there is an increasing interest in searching for Dirac type SGSs. In the past decade, a large number of Dirac or parabolic type SGSs have been predicted by density functional theory, and some parabolic SGSs have been experimentally demonstrated. The SGSs hold great potential for spintronics, electronics, and optoelectronics with high speed and low‐energy consumption. Here, both the Dirac and the parabolic types of SGSs in different material systems are reviewed and the concepts of the SGS, novel spin and charge states, and the potential applications of SGSs in next‐generation spintronic devices are outlined.     

Current-Induced Spin–Orbit Torques for Spintronic Applications

Control of magnetization in magnetic nanostructures is essential for development of spintronic devices because it governs fundamental device characteristics such as energy consumption, areal density, and operation speed. In this respect, spin–orbit torque (SOT), which originates from the spin–orbit interaction, has been widely investigated due to its efficient manipulation of the magnetization using in-plane current. SOT spearheads novel spintronic applications including high-speed magnetic memories, reconfigurable logics, and neuromorphic computing. Herein, recent advances in SOT research, highlighting the considerable benefits and challenges of SOT-based spintronic devices, are reviewed. First, the materials and structural engineering that enhances SOT efficiency are discussed. Then major experimental results for field-free SOT switching of perpendicular magnetization are summarized, which includes the introduction of an internal effective magnetic field and the generation of a distinct spin current with out-of-plane spin polarization. Finally, advanced SOT functionalities are presented, focusing on the demonstration of reconfigurable and complementary operation in spin logic devices.     

Ultrafast Photoinduced Multimode Antiferromagnetic Spin Dynamics in Exchange‐Coupled Fe/RFeO3 (R = Er or Dy) Heterostructures

Antiferromagnetic spin dynamics is important for both fundamental and applied antiferromagnetic spintronic devices; however, it is rarely explored by external fields because of the strong exchange interaction in antiferromagnetic materials. Here, the photoinduced excitation of ultrafast antiferromagnetic spin dynamics is achieved by capping antiferromagnetic RFeO₃ (R = Er or Dy) with an exchange‐coupled ferromagnetic Fe film. Compared with antiferromagnetic spin dynamics of bare RFeO₃ orthoferrite single crystals, which can be triggered effectively by ultrafast laser heating just below the phase transition temperature, the ultrafast photoinduced multimode antiferromagnetic spin dynamic modes, for exchange‐coupled Fe/RFeO₃ heterostructures, including quasiferromagnetic resonance, impurity, coherent phonon, and quasiantiferromagnetic modes, are observed in a temperature range of 10–300 K. These experimental results not only offer an effective means to trigger ultrafast antiferromagnetic spin dynamics of rare‐earth orthoferrites, but also shed light on the ultrafast manipulation of antiferromagnetic magnetization in Fe/RFeO₃ heterostructures.     

Organic spintronics

Organic semiconductors are emerging materials in the field of spintronics. Successful achievements include their use as a tunnel barrier in magnetoresistive tunnelling devices and as a medium for spin-polarized current in transport devices. In this paper, we give an overview of the basic concepts of spin transport in organic semiconductors and present the results obtained in the field, highlighting the open questions that have to be addressed in order to improve devices performance and reproducibility. The most challenging perspectives will be discussed and a possible evolution of organic spin devices featuring multi-functional operation is presented.     

Reversible electrical switching of spin polarization in multiferroic tunnel junctions

Spin-polarized transport in ferromagnetic tunnel junctions, characterized by tunnel magnetoresistance, has already been proven to have great potential for application in the field of spintronics and in magnetic random access memories. Until recently, in such a junction the insulating barrier played only a passive role, namely to facilitate electron tunnelling between the ferromagnetic electrodes. However, new possibilities emerged when ferroelectric materials were used for the insulating barrier, as these possess a permanent dielectric polarization switchable between two stable states. Adding to the two different magnetization alignments of the electrode, four non-volatile states are therefore possible in such multiferroic tunnel junctions. Here, we show that owing to the coupling between magnetization and ferroelectric polarization at the interface between the electrode and barrier of a multiferroic tunnel junction, the spin polarization of the tunnelling electrons can be reversibly and remanently inverted by switching the ferroelectric polarization of the barrier. Selecting the spin direction of the tunnelling electrons by short electric pulses in the nanosecond range rather than by an applied magnetic field enables new possibilities for spin control in spintronic devices.     

Tunable Spin Characteristic Properties in Spin Valve Devices Based on Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Perovskites

The hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) form a new class of semiconductors which show promising optoelectronic device applications. Remarkably, the optoelectronic properties of HOIP are tunable by changing the chemical components of their building blocks. Recently, the HOIP spintronic properties and their applications in spintronic devices have attracted substantial interest. Here the impact of the chemical component diversity in HOIPs on their spintronic properties is studied. Spin valve devices based on HOIPs with different organic cations and halogen atoms are fabricated. The spin diffusion length is obtained in the various HOIPs by measuring the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) response in spin valve devices with different perovskite interlayer thicknesses. In addition spin lifetime is also measured from the Hanle response. It is found that the spintronic properties of HOIPs are mainly determined by the halogen atoms, rather than the organic cations. The study provides a clear avenue for engineering spintronic devices based on HOIPs.     

Spintronics in antiferromagnets

Magnetic domains and the walls between are the subject of great interest because of the role they play in determining the electrical properties of ferromagnetic materials and as a means of manipulating electron spin in spintronic devices. However, much less attention has been paid to these effects in antiferromagnets, primarily because there is less awareness of their existence in antiferromagnets, and in addition they are hard to probe since they exhibit no net magnetic moment. In this paper, we discuss the electrical properties of chromium, which is the only elemental antiferromagnet and how they depend on the subtle arrangement of the antiferromagnetically ordered spins. X-ray measurement of the modulation wavevector Q of the incommensurate antiferromagnetic spin-density wave shows thermal hysteresis, with the corresponding wavelength being larger during cooling than during warming. The thermal hysteresis in the Q vector is accompanied with a thermal hysteresis in both the longitudinal and Hall resistivity. During cooling, we measure a larger longitudinal and Hall resistivity compared with when warming, which indicates that a larger wavelength at a given temperature corresponds to a smaller carrier density or equivalently a larger antiferromagnetic ordering parameter compared to a smaller wavelength. This shows that the arrangement of the antiferromagnetic spins directly influences the transport properties. In thin films, the sign of the thermal hysteresis for Q is the same as in thick films, but a distinct aspect is that Q is quantized.     

Single Nanoparticle Magnetic Spin Memristor

There is an increasing demand for the development of a simple Si‐based universal memory device at the nanoscale that operates at high frequencies. Spin‐electronics (spintronics) can, in principle, increase the efficiency of devices and allow them to operate at high frequencies. A primary challenge for reducing the dimensions of spintronic devices is the requirement for high spin currents. To overcome this problem, a new approach is presented that uses helical chiral molecules exhibiting spin‐selective electron transport, which is called the chiral‐induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect. Using the CISS effect, the active memory device is miniaturized for the first time from the micrometer scale to 30 nm in size, and this device presents memristor‐like nonlinear logic operation at low voltages under ambient conditions and room temperature. A single nanoparticle, along with Au contacts and chiral molecules, is sufficient to function as a memory device. A single ferromagnetic nanoplatelet is used as a fixed hard magnet combined with Au contacts in which the gold contacts act as soft magnets due to the adsorbed chiral molecules.     

Modeling Multiterminal Spintronic Devices

We are encountering tremendous opportunities and challenges in combining emerging nanotechnology for developing nanoelectronic devices. Researchers are designing nanoelectronic circuits based on newly discovered nanoscale building blocks, such as spintronic devices. In this paper, we calculate conductance in spintronic gates using the nonequilibrium Green's function and show useful operations for "multiterminal" logic gates. These spintronic devices can be used to design complicated spin circuits     

Spintronics: Sources and Challenge. Personal Perspective

Spintronics emerged very recently as a quickly developing interdisciplinary field in the framework of solid-state physics with tempting technological perspectives. This promise is based on the active involvement of the electron spin, side by side with its charge, in the operation of nanometer scale electronic devices. It is a remarkable feature of spintronics that it is growing coherently from several different fields of solid-state physics (semiconductor physics, magnetism, superconductivity, etc.) and involves a multiplicity of rather diversified phenomena. This unique property of spintronics makes it a fascinating field for research and applications but also creates a challenge for researchers. In this short note, I concentrate on the physical background of spintronics and some historical roots of it but avoid making specific prognosis about technological applications.     

Voltage‐Controlled On/Off Switching of Ferromagnetism in Manganite Supercapacitors

The ever‐growing technological demand for more advanced microelectronic and spintronic devices keeps catalyzing the idea of controlling magnetism with an electric field. Although voltage‐driven on/off switching of magnetization is already established in some magnetoelectric (ME) systems, often the coupling between magnetic and electric order parameters lacks an adequate reversibility, energy efficiency, working temperature, or switching speed. Here, the ME performance of a manganite supercapacitor composed of a ferromagnetic, spin‐polarized ultrathin film of La_0.74Sr_0.26MnO₃ (LSMO) electrically charged with an ionic liquid electrolyte is investigated. Fully reversible, rapid, on/off switching of ferromagnetism in LSMO is demonstrated in combination with a shift in Curie temperature of up to 26 K and a giant ME coupling coefficient of ≈226 Oe V⁻¹. The application of voltages of only ≈2 V results in ultralow energy consumptions of about 90 µJ cm⁻². This work provides a step forward toward low‐power, high‐endurance electrical switching of magnetism for the development of high‐performance ME spintronics.     

Ionic Gel Modulation of RKKY Interactions in Synthetic Anti‐Ferromagnetic Nanostructures for Low Power Wearable Spintronic Devices

To meet the demand of developing compatible and energy‐efficient flexible spintronics, voltage manipulation of magnetism on soft substrates is in demand. Here, a voltage tunable flexible field‐effect transistor structure by ionic gel (IG) gating in perpendicular synthetic anti‐ferromagnetic nanostructure is demonstrated. As a result, the interlayer Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida (RKKY) interaction can be tuned electrically at room temperature. With a circuit gating voltage, anti‐ferromagnetic (AFM) ordering is enhanced or converted into an AFM–ferromagnetic (FM) intermediate state, accompanying with the dynamic domain switching. This IG gating process can be repeated stably at different curvatures, confirming an excellent mechanical property. The IG‐induced modification of interlayer exchange coupling is related to the change of Fermi level aroused by the disturbance of itinerant electrons. The voltage modulation of RKKY interaction with excellent flexibility proposes an application potential for wearable spintronic devices with energy efficiency and ultralow operation voltage.