Elshan Akhadov

Spin Electronics

Peng Xiong

Department of Physics and MARTECH

Florida State University

QuarkNet, June 28, 2002

 Elshan Akhadov

Moore’s Law… is the end in sight?

Speed: 100 Hz Speed: 109 Hz

Size: 10-2 m Size: 10-7 m
Cost: $106/transistor Cost: $10-5/transistor

SOURCE GATE DRAIN

MOSFET
 Elshan Akhadov

Magnetic Information Storage: superparamagnetic limit

Density: 20 Gb/in2
Speed: 200 Mb/s
Size: f2.5” x 2
Capacity: 50 Gb

Density: 2 kb/in2
Speed: 70 kb/s
Size: f24” x 50
Capacity: 5 Mb
 Elshan Akhadov

Superparamagnetic Limit:
thermal stability of magnetic media
 Elshan Akhadov

Semiconductor Random Access Memory: alternatives?

M
O
S

High speed

Low density
High power consumption
Volatile
 Elshan Akhadov

Metal-based Spintronics:
Spin valve and magnetic tunnel junction
H R

E E H
M
EFF

N(E)
N(E)

Applications: magnetic sensors, MRAM, NV-logic

 Elshan Akhadov

Spintronics in Semiconductor: spin transistor

Datta and Das, APL, 1990 Dreams

High performance
H opto-electronics
SOURCE DRAIN
GATE Single-chip computer
(instant on; low power)
GaAs Quantum computation

Issues
Spin polarized material
Spin injection
Spin coherence
H Spin detection
 Elshan Akhadov

Spin Injection: the conductivity mismatch

Schmidt et.al., PRB, 2000 I

I
RF RN

SC I
mF RF RN

mF mN Solutions:
Use injector with 100%
FM mN
spin polarization
Non-diffusive injection
Conductivity matching
 Elshan Akhadov

E E
CrO2: a half metal
Tc = 400 K
Uex m = 2mB/Cr
E
4s p = 100%
Schwarz, J. Phys. F, 1986
normal metal
half-metallic
ferromagnet
3d

metallic ferromagnet

Measurement of spin polarization: using a superconductor

 Elshan Akhadov

Andreev reflection: normal metal/superconductor

E
N S Question:
D What could happen to an
eV electron with energy eV < D
EF when it hits S from N?
-D A. bounce back;
B. go into S as an electron;
N(E) C. go into S in a Cooper pair.

1. A and B
2. B and C
3. C and A
4. A and B and C

N S
 Elshan Akhadov

Andreev reflection: normal metal/superconductor

p=0 Z  H / vF
2.0 2.0
2.0
1.5 1.5 1.5
G(V)/Gn

1.0 1.0 1.0

0.5 0.5 0.5

0.0 0.0 0.0

-2 D - D 0 D 2D -2 D - D 0 D 2D -2 D - D 0 D 2D
V V V

Z=0 Z~1 Z >> 1

clean metallic contact in-between tunnel junction

Blonder, Tinkham, and Klapwijk, PRB, 1982

 Elshan Akhadov

Andreev reflection: ferromagnet/superconductor

p = 75%
1.0

F E S
0.5 Z=0
D metallic contact
0.0
-2 D - D 0 D 2D
eV 1.5
EF
1.0
-D Z~1
0.5
in-between
DOS
0.0
2.0 -2 D - D 0 D 2D

1.5

1.0
Z >> 1
tunnel junction
0.5

0.0
V
 Elshan Akhadov

Comparison: normal metal and ferromagnet

p=0
2.0
1.0
p = 75%
1.5

Z=0
1.0
Z=0
0.5

metallic contact
0.5
metallic contact
0.0
2.0 0.0
-2 D -1 D 0 1D 2D -2 D - D 0 D 2D
1.5
1.5
1.0

Z~1
1.0
Z~1
0.5
in-between
0.5 in-between
0.0
0.0
-2 D -1 D 0 1D 2D 2.0 -2 D - D 0 D 2D
2.0

1.5 1.5

1.0
Z >> 1 Z >> 1
1.0

tunnel junction tunnel junction

0.5 0.5

0.0 0.0
V V
 Elshan Akhadov

Spin Polarization of CrO2: our approach

Planar junction  real device structure

Artificial barrier  controlled interface
Preservation of spin polarization
at and across barrier

Key step: controlled surface modification

of CrO2 via Br etch
 Elshan Akhadov

CrO2 Film Growth: Chemical Vapor Deposition

Furnace, T=280° C
O2 flow

Heater block, T=400°C substrate Cr8O21 precursor

Ivanov, Watts, and Lind, JAP, 2001

 Elshan Akhadov

Junction Fabrication and Measurement

 Grow CrO2 film

 Pattern CrO2 stripe
~  Surface modification: Br etch
Pb or Al  Deposit S cross stripes

Pb or Al
I
CrO2
CrO2 Lock-in V

TiO2
dV/dI vs V in He4 (1K) or He3 (0.3K) cryostats

dV
V ( I )  V ( I0 )  I 0  I ac cost  ...
dI
 Elshan Akhadov

Results: CrO2/(I)/Pb junctions

1.0 Metallic contact

Z = 0 p = 97%
0.8
G (V) / GN

0.6

0.4

0.2 T = 1.2 K 2.0

D = 1.44 meV
0.0
-4 -2 0 2 4 1.5

G (V) / GN
V (mV)
1.0

0.5
Tunnel junction T = 400 mK
0.0
High quality barrier -10 -5 0 5 10
V (mV)
w/o inelastic scattering
 Elshan Akhadov

Measurement of spin polarization in high-Z junctions:

using Zeeman splitting

E mH

D
eV
EF
-D
eV/D
N(E)
Meservey and Tedrow,
F H S Phys. Rep., 1994
 Elshan Akhadov

Zeeman splitting in an F/I/S junction

CrO2
H In order to get high Hc:
Ultrathin S film
Al Parallel field
Negligible s-o interaction

CrO2 Al
 Elshan Akhadov

Results: Zeeman splitting 100

80
1.6

D (meV)
60
1.4 40

1.2 20

0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
G (V) / GN

1.0
H (T)
0.8
1.4
H = 0.0 T
0.6 1.2
= 0.5 T
1.0
0.4 = 1.0 T

G (V) / GN
0.8
= 1.5 T
0.2 = 2.0 T 0.6

= 2.5 T 0.4 +2.5T

0.0 0.2 -2.5T
-0.5 0.0 0.5
V (mV) 0.0
-0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6
T =400 mK V (mV)
 Elshan Akhadov

Summary (CrO2)
Verified half-metallicity of CrO2
Engineered an artificial barrier on CrO2 surface
Preserved complete spin polarization at interface
Achieved full spin injection from a half metal

Future
Apply the technique to other systems
Magnetic tunnel junction
 Elshan Akhadov

CrO2/I/Co magnetic “tunnel” junction

16.5

H 16.0
Resistance ()
15.5

15.0

CrO2 Co 14.5
-1000 -500 0 500 1000
AlOx Field (Oe)
 Elshan Akhadov

The People

Jeff Parker
Jazcek Braden Stephan von Molnár
Steve Watts Pedro Schlottmann
Pavel Ivanov David Lind
 Elshan Akhadov

Let’s build
“computers with wires no wider than 100
atoms, a microscope that could view
individual atoms, machines that could
manipulate atoms 1 by 1, and circuits
involving quantized energy levels or the
interactions of quantized spins.”

Richard Feynman –
“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”
1959 APS Meeting