This review describes a new paradigm of electronics based on the spin degree of freedom of the electron. Either adding the spin degree of freedom to conventional charge-based electronic devices or using the spin alone has the potential advantages of nonvolatility, increased data processing speed, decreased electric power consumption, and increased integration densities compared with conventional semiconductor devices. To successfully incorporate spins into existing semiconductor technology, one has to resolve technical issues such as efficient injection, transport, control and manipulation, and detection of spin polarization as well as spin-polarized currents. Recent advances in new materials engineering hold the promise of realizing spintronic devices in the near future. We review the current state of the spin-based devices, efforts in new materials fabrication, issues in spin transport, and optical spin manipulation.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/294/5546/1488.full.pdf

Spintronics: a spin-based electronics vision for the future.

Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and well-established results. The primary focus is on the basic physical principles underlying the generation of carrier spin polarization, spin dynamics, and spin-polarized transport in semiconductors and metals. Spin transport differs from charge transport in that spin is a nonconserved quantity in solids due to spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling. The authors discuss in detail spin decoherence mechanisms in metals and semiconductors. Various theories of spin injection and spin-polarized transport are applied to hybrid structures relevant to spin-based devices and fundamental studies of materials properties. Experimental work is reviewed with the emphasis on projected applications, in which external electric and magnetic fields and illumination by light will be used to control spin and charge dynamics to create new functionalities not feasible or ineffective with conventional electronics.

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Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications

Semiconductor devices have become indispensable for generating electromagnetic radiation in everyday applications. Visible and infrared diode lasers are at the core of information technology, and at the other end of the spectrum, microwave and radio-frequency emitters enable wireless communications. But the terahertz region (1-10 THz; 1 THz = 10(12) Hz) between these ranges has remained largely underdeveloped, despite the identification of various possible applications--for example, chemical detection, astronomy and medical imaging. Progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of compact, low-consumption, solid-state terahertz sources. Here we report a monolithic terahertz injection laser that is based on interminiband transitions in the conduction band of a semiconductor (GaAs/AlGaAs) heterostructure. The prototype demonstrated emits a single mode at 4.4 THz, and already shows high output powers of more than 2 mW with low threshold current densities of about a few hundred A cm(-2) up to 50 K. These results are very promising for extending the present laser concept to continuous-wave and high-temperature operation, which would lead to implementation in practical photonic systems.

Terahertz semiconductor heterostructure laser

It is often assumed that it is not possible to alter the properties of magnetic materials once they have been prepared and put into use. For example, although magnetic materials are used in information technology to store trillions of bits (in the form of magnetization directions established by applying external magnetic fields), the properties of the magnetic medium itself remain unchanged on magnetization reversal. The ability to externally control the properties of magnetic materials would be highly desirable from fundamental and technological viewpoints, particularly in view of recent developments in magnetoelectronics and spintronics. In semiconductors, the conductivity can be varied by applying an electric field, but the electrical manipulation of magnetism has proved elusive. Here we demonstrate electric-field control of ferromagnetism in a thin-film semiconducting alloy, using an insulating-gate field-effect transistor structure. By applying electric fields, we are able to vary isothermally and reversibly the transition temperature of hole-induced ferromagnetism.

Electric-field control of ferromagnetism

3d-transition-metal-doped ZnO films (n-type Zn1−xMxO (x=005–025): M=Co, Mn, Cr, Ni) are formed on sapphire substrates using a pulsed-laser deposition technique, and their magnetic and electric properties are examined The Co-doped ZnO films showed the maximum solubility limit Some of the Co-doped ZnO films exhibit ferromagnetic behaviors with the Curie temperature higher than room temperature The magnetic properties of Co-doped ZnO films depend on the concentration of Co ions and carriers

Magnetic and electric properties of transition-metal-doped ZnO films

The field of magnetoelectronics has been growing in practical importance in recent years1 For example, devices that harness electronic spin—such as giant-magnetoresistive sensors and magnetoresistive memory cells—are now appearing on the market2 In contrast, magnetoelectronic devices based on spin-polarized transport in semiconductors are at a much earlier stage of development, largely because of the lack of an efficient means of injecting spin-polarized charge Much work has focused on the use of ferromagnetic metallic contacts3,4, but it has proved exceedingly difficult to demonstrate polarized spin injection More recently, two groups5,6 have reported successful spin injection from an NiFe contact, but the observed effects of the spin-polarized transport were quite small (resistance changes of less than 1%) Here we describe a different approach, in which the magnetic semiconductor BexMnyZn1-x-ySe is used as a spin aligner We achieve injection efficiencies of 90% spin-polarized current into a non-magnetic semiconductor device The device used in this case is a GaAs/AlGaAs light-emitting diode, and spin polarization is confirmed by the circular polarization state of the emitted light

Injection and detection of a spin-polarized current in a light-emitting diode

Beryllium chalcogenides have a much higher degree of covalency than other II–VI compounds. Be containing ZnSe based mixed crystals show a significant lattice hardening effect. In addition, they introduce substantial additional degrees of freedom for the design of wide gap II–VI heterostructures due to their band gaps, lattice constants, and doping behavior. Therefore, these compounds seem to be very interesting materials for short wavelength laser diodes. Here, we report on the first fabrication of laser diodes based on the wide band gap II–VI semiconductor compound BeMgZnSe. The laser diodes emit at a wavelength of 507 nm under pulsed current injection at 77 K, with a threshold current of 80 mA, corresponding to 240 A/cm2.

Laser diodes based on beryllium-chalcogenides

Novel beryllium containing II–VI compounds: basic properties and potential applications

The quantum confined Pockels effect has been observed in type-II ZnSe/BeTe quantum well structures. In order to describe the in-plane optical anisotropy induced by the electric field in type-II heterostructures, a theoretical approach has been developed which is based on the representation of optical matrix elements in the microscopical tight-binding model. It is shown that polarized light spectroscopy allows one to obtain microscopic information on interfaces in heterostructures, especially on the orientation of chemical bonds.

Giant Electro-optical Anisotropy in Type-II Heterostructures

We have determined the dielectric function of ${\mathrm{Be}}_{x}{\mathrm{Zn}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}\mathrm{Se}$ above the fundamental absorption edge for the full composition range $(0l~xl~1)$ by spectroscopic ellipsometry in the UV and VUV range. The spectra show pronounced features in the photon energy range between 2.7 and 25 eV. By comparing the ZnSe spectra $(x=0)$ to literature data, we assign the observed structures to interband transitions at specific points or regions of the Brillouin zone. The corresponding assignment for BeSe is made by tracking the systematic dependence of these structures on the Be content x from $x=0$ to $x=1. {E}_{0}$ has the steepest slope ${\mathrm{dE}}_{0}/dx$ and exhibits a bowing vs x. On samples with a large Zn content $(xl0.2)$ two structures show up at high energies (15.7 and 16.9 eV) which have not been observed before. We assign these structures to transitions from the $\mathrm{Zn} 3d$ bands to a higher conduction band at the L point and at the $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ point.

M. Keim

Papers

Injection and detection of a spin-polarized current in a light-emitting diode

Laser diodes based on beryllium-chalcogenides

Novel beryllium containing II–VI compounds: basic properties and potential applications

Giant Electro-optical Anisotropy in Type-II Heterostructures

Ellipsometric studies of Be x Zn 1-x Se between 3 eV and 25 eV