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.     

Large Magnetoresistance through a Single Molecule due to a Spin-Split Hybridized Orbital

Using organic materials in spintronic devices raises a lot of expectation for future applications due to their flexibility, low cost, long spin lifetime, and easy functionalization. However, the interfacial hybridization and spin polarization between the organic layer and the ferromagnetic electrodes still has to be understood at the molecular scale. Coupling state-of-the-art spin-polarized scanning tunneling spectroscopy and spin-resolved ab initio calculations, we give the first experimental evidence of the spin splitting of a molecular orbital on a single non magnetic C(60) molecule in contact with a magnetic material, namely, the Cr(001) surface. This hybridized molecular state is responsible for an inversion of sign of the tunneling magnetoresistance depending on energy. This result opens the way to spin filtering through molecular orbitals.     

High Spin Hall Conductivity in Large-Area Type-II Dirac Semimetal PtTe2

Manipulation of magnetization by electric-current-induced spin–orbit torque (SOT) is of great importance for spintronic applications because of its merits in energy-efficient and high-speed operation. An ideal material for SOT applications should possess high charge-spin conversion efficiency and high electrical conductivity. Recently, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) emerge as intriguing platforms for SOT study because of their controllability in spin–orbit coupling, conductivity, and energy band topology. Although TMDs show great potentials in SOT applications, the present study is restricted to the mechanically exfoliated samples with small sizes and relatively low conductivities. Here, a manufacturable recipe is developed to fabricate large-area thin films of PtTe₂, a type-II Dirac semimetal, to study their capability of generating SOT. Large SOT efficiency together with high conductivity results in a giant spin Hall conductivity of PtTe₂ thin films, which is the largest value among the presently reported TMDs. It is further demonstrated that the SOT from PtTe₂ layer can switch a perpendicularly magnetized CoTb layer efficiently. This work paves the way for employing PtTe₂-like TMDs for wafer-scale spintronic device applications.     

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.     

Tunnel magnetoresistance effect and magnetic damping in half-metallic Heusler alloys

Some full-Heusler alloys, such as Co(2)MnSi and Co(2)MnGe, are expected to be half-metallic ferromagnetic material, which has complete spin polarization. They are the most promising materials for realizing half-metallicity at room temperature owing to their high Curie temperature. We demonstrate a huge tunnel magnetoresistance effect in a magnetic tunnel junction using a Co(2)MnSi Heusler alloy electrode. This result proves high spin polarization of the Heusler alloy. We also demonstrate a small magnetic damping constant in Co(2)FeAl epitaxial film. The very high spin polarization and small magnetic constant of Heusler alloys will be a great advantage for future spintronic device applications.     

Understanding and optimizing spin injection in self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum-dot molecular structures

Semiconductor quantum-dot (QD) structures are promising for spintronic applications owing to their strong quenching of spin relaxation processes that are promoted by carrier and exciton motions. Unfortunately, the spin injection efficiency in such nanostructures is very low and the exact physical mechanism of the spin loss is still not fully understood. Here, we show that exciton spin injection in self-assembled InAs/GaAs QDs and QD molecular structures (QMSs) is dominated by localized excitons confined within the QD-like regions of the wetting layer (WL) and GaAs barrier layer that immediately surround the QDs and QMSs. These localized excitons in fact lack the commonly believed 2D and 3D character with an extended wavefunction. We attribute the microscopic origin of the severe spin loss observed during spin injection to a sizable anisotropic exchange interaction (AEI) of the localized excitons in the WL and GaAs barrier layer, which has so far been overlooked. We determined that the AEI of the injected excitons and, thus, the efficiency of the spin injection processes are correlated with the overall geometric symmetry of the QMSs. This symmetry largely defines the anisotropy of the confinement potential of the localized excitons in the surrounding WL and GaAs barrier. These results pave the way for a better understanding of spin injection processes and the microscopic origin of spin loss in QD structures. Furthermore, they provide a useful guideline to significantly improve spin injection efficiency by optimizing the lateral arrangement of QMSs and overcome a major challenge in spintronic device applications utilizing semiconductor QDs.

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Field‐Free Programmable Spin Logics via Chirality‐Reversible Spin–Orbit Torque Switching

Spin–orbit torque (SOT)‐induced magnetization switching exhibits chirality (clockwise or counterclockwise), which offers the prospect of programmable spin‐logic devices integrating nonvolatile spintronic memory cells with logic functions. Chirality is usually fixed by an applied or effective magnetic field in reported studies. Herein, utilizing an in‐plane magnetic layer that is also switchable by SOT, the chirality of a perpendicular magnetic layer that is exchange‐coupled with the in‐plane layer can be reversed in a purely electrical way. In a single Hall bar device designed from this multilayer structure, three logic gates including AND, NAND, and NOT are reconfigured, which opens a gateway toward practical programmable spin‐logic devices.     

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.     

Probing magnetic anisotropy and spin polarization in spintronic materials

Magnetic anisotropy and spin polarization are fundamental parameters in ferromagnetic materials that have use in spintronic device applications. As the need for screening properties of new magnetic materials rises, it is important to have measurement probes for quantities such as anisotropy and spin polarization. We have developed two unconventional yet powerful techniques to study these parameters. A resonant RF transverse susceptibility method is used to map the characteristic anisotropy and switching fields over a wide range in temperature and magnetic fields. For studies of spin polarization, the phenomenon of Andreev reflection across ferromagnet-superconductor junctions is used to extract values of the transport spin polarization. The effectiveness of these approaches is demonstrated in candidate spintronic materials such as half-metallic CrO/sub 2/ thin films and arrays of monodisperse, single-domain Fe nanoparticles.     

Comparison of Performance of n- and p-Type Spin Transistors With Conventional Transistors

A spintronic device that has stimulated much research interest is the Datta–Das spin transistor. The mechanism behind it called the Rashba effect is that an applied voltage gives rise to a spin splitting. We propose ways to optimize this effect. The relevant spin splitting in k-space is predicted to increase with electric field at a rate that is more than two orders of magnitude larger for holes than for electrons. Furthermore, the almost negligible lattice-mismatch between GaAs and AlGaAs can be used to further enhance the advantage of hole-based spin transistors. Compared to present transistors we conclude that electron-based spin transistors will have problems to become competitive but hole-based ones are much more promising.

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Supramolecular spin valves

Magnetic molecules are potential building blocks for the design of spintronic devices. Moreover, molecular materials enable the combination of bottom-up processing techniques, for example with conventional top-down nanofabrication. The development of solid-state spintronic devices based on the giant magnetoresistance, tunnel magnetoresistance and spin-valve effects has revolutionized magnetic memory applications. Recently, a significant improvement of the spin-relaxation time has been observed in organic semiconductor tunnel junctions, single non-magnetic molecules coupled to magnetic electrodes have shown giant magnetoresistance and hybrid devices exploiting the quantum tunnelling properties of single-molecule magnets have been proposed. Herein, we present an original spin-valve device in which a non-magnetic molecular quantum dot, made of a single-walled carbon nanotube contacted with non-magnetic electrodes, is laterally coupled through supramolecular interactions to TbPc(2) single-molecule magnets (Pc=phthalocyanine). Their localized magnetic moments lead to a magnetic field dependence of the electrical transport through the single-walled carbon nanotube, resulting in magnetoresistance ratios up to 300% at temperatures less than 1 K. We thus demonstrate the functionality of a supramolecular spin valve without magnetic leads. Our results open up prospects of new spintronic devices with quantum properties.     

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.     

Coherent spin transport through dynamic quantum dots

Spin transport and manipulation in semiconductors have been studied intensively with the ultimate goal of realizing spintronic devices. Previous work in GaAs has focused on controlling the carrier density, crystallographic orientation and dimensionality to limit the electron spin decoherence and allow transport over long distances. Here, we introduce a new method for the coherent transport of spin-polarized electronic wave packets using dynamic quantum dots (DQDs) created by the piezoelectric field of coherent acoustic phonons. Photogenerated spin carriers transported by the DQDs in undoped GaAs (001) quantum wells exhibit a spin coherence length exceeding 100 microm, which is attributed to the simultaneous control of the carrier density and the dimensionality by the DQDs during transport. In the absence of an applied magnetic field, we observe the precession of the electron spin induced by the internal magnetic field associated with the spin splitting of the conduction band (Dresselhaus term). The coherent manipulation of the precession frequency is also achieved by applying an external magnetic field.     

Novel Spintronic Devices Using Local Anisotropy Engineering in (Ga,Mn)As

The prototypical ferromagnetic semi-conductor (Ga,MnAs) is interesting for spintronics devices, largely because of its rich magnetic and transport anisotropy. The lack of local anisotropy control has until recently limited device options to structures where all elements have the anisotropy characteristic of the parent layer. We describe here a novel approach to anisotropy control using lithographically engineered strain relaxation. By patterning the layer to create local strain relaxation, we allow for a controlled deformation of the crystal. The strong spin orbit coupling then leads to a new anisotropy term that can be independently tuned for each element of a compound device. We use this technique to demonstrate a novel non-volatile memory element.     

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.     

Magnetic domain-wall dynamics in a submicrometre ferromagnetic structure

As fabrication technology pushes the dimensions of ferromagnetic structures into the nanoscale, understanding the magnetization processes of these structures is of fundamental interest, and key to future applications in hard disk drives, magnetic random access memory and other 'spintronic' devices. Measurements on elongated magnetic nanostructures highlighted the importance of nucleation and propagation of a magnetic boundary, or domain wall, between opposing magnetic domains in the magnetization reversal process. Domain-wall propagation in confined structures is of basic interest and critical to the performance of a recently demonstrated magnetic logic scheme for spintronics. A previous study of a 500-nm-wide NiFe structure obtained very low domain-wall mobility in a three-layer device. Here we report room-temperature measurements of the propagation velocity of a domain wall in a single-layer planar Ni80Fe20 ferromagnetic nanowire 200 nm wide. The wall velocities are extremely high and, importantly, the intrinsic wall mobility is close to that in continuous films, indicating that lateral confinement does not significantly affect the gyromagnetic spin damping parameter to the extreme extent previously suggested. Consequently the prospects for high-speed domain-wall motion in future nanoscale spintronic devices are excellent.     

Power Dissipation in Spintronic Devices Out of Thermodynamic Equilibrium

Quantum limits of power dissipation in spintronic computing are estimated. A computing element composed of a single electron in a quantum dot is considered. Dynamics of its spin due to external magnetic field and interaction with adjacent dots are described via the Bloch equations. Spin relaxation due to magnetic noise from various sources is described as coupling to a reservoir. Resulting dissipation of energy is calculated and is shown to be much less than the thermal limit, ∼kT per bit, if the rate of spin relaxation is much slower than the switching rate. Clues on how to engineer an energy efficient spintronic device are provided.     

Controlled Individual Skyrmion Nucleation at Artificial Defects Formed by Ion Irradiation

Magnetic skyrmions are particle‐like deformations in a magnetic texture. They have great potential as information carriers in spintronic devices because of their interesting topological properties and favorable motion under spin currents. A new method of nucleating skyrmions at nanoscale defect sites, created in a controlled manner with focused ion beam irradiation, in polycrystalline magnetic multilayer samples with an interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, is reported. This new method has three notable advantages: 1) localization of nucleation; 2) stability over a larger range of external field strengths, including stability at zero field; and 3) existence of skyrmions in material systems where, prior to defect fabrication, skyrmions were not previously obtained by field cycling. Additionally, it is observed that the size of defect nucleated skyrmions is uninfluenced by the defect itself—provided that the artificial defects are controlled to be smaller than the inherent skyrmion size. All of these characteristics are expected to be useful toward the goal of realizing a skyrmion‐based spintronic device. This phenomenon is studied with a range of transmission electron microscopy techniques to probe quantitatively the magnetic behavior at the defects with applied field and correlate this with the structural impact of the defects.     

Observation of the intrinsic pinning of a magnetic domain wall in a ferromagnetic nanowire

The spin transfer torque is essential for electrical magnetization switching. When a magnetic domain wall is driven by an electric current through an adiabatic spin torque, the theory predicts a threshold current even for a perfect wire without any extrinsic pinning. The experimental confirmation of this 'intrinsic pinning', however, has long been missing. Here, we give evidence that this intrinsic pinning determines the threshold, and thus that the adiabatic spin torque dominates the domain wall motion in a perpendicularly magnetized Co/Ni nanowire. The intrinsic nature manifests itself both in the field-independent threshold current and in the presence of its minimum on tuning the wire width. The demonstrated domain wall motion purely due to the adiabatic spin torque will serve to achieve robust operation and low energy consumption in spintronic devices.