Magnetoresistance of narrow gap magnetic semiconductor heterojunctions

Bruce W Wessels*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Narrow gap III-V semiconductors have been investigated for semiconductor spintronics. By alloying these semiconductors with manganese magnetic semiconductors result. Large magnetoresistance (MR) effects have been observed in narrow gap magnetic semiconductor p-n heterojunctions. The MR which is positive is attributed to spin selective carrier scattering. For an InMnAs/InAs heterojunction a diode MR of 2680% is observed at room temperature and high magnetic fields. This work indicates that highly spin-polarized magnetic semiconductor heterojunctions can be realized that operate at room temperature. Devices based on the MR include spin diodes and bipolar magnetic junction transistors. We utilize the diode MR states to create a binary logic family.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1340011
JournalSPIN
Volume3
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2013

Funding

The author thanks J. A. Peters, N. Rangaraju and J. Friedman for wide ranging technical discussions on spintronic devices and circuits. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant #DMR-0804479. Extensive use of the facilities of the Materials Research Center at Northwestern University supported by the NSF (No. DMR 0076097) is acknowledged. Use of the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory was supported by the US Department of Energy, O±ce of Science, O±ce of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

Keywords

  • bipolar devices
  • Magnetic semiconductors
  • spintronics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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