Spin Diode Based on Fe/MgO Double Tunnel Junction

Abstract

We demonstrate a spin diode consisting of a semiconductor free nano-scale Fe/MgO-based double tunnel junction. The device exhibits a near perfect spin-valve effect combined with a strong diode effect. The mechanism consistent with our data is resonant tunneling through discrete states in the middle ferromagnetic layer sandwiched by tunnel barriers of different spin-dependent transparency. The observed magneto-resistance is record high, ~4000%, essentially making the structure an on/off spin-switch. This, combined with the strong diode effect, ~100, offers a new device that should be promising for such technologies as magnetic random access memory and re-programmable logic.

14 pages

References in corpus (7)

• Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications
• Basic obstacle for electrical spin-injection from a ferromagnetic metal into a diffusive semiconductor
• Spin-accumulation in small ferromagnetic double barrier junctions
• Magnetic Diode Effect in Double Barrier Tunnel Junctions
• Spectroscopy of phonons and spin torques in magnetic point contacts
• Surface Spin-valve Effect
• Diode Effect in Asymmetric Double Tunnel Barriers with Single Metal Nanoclusters

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Long range phase coherencein double barrier magnetic tunnel junctions with large thick metallic quantum well
• I-V curves of Fe/MgO (001) single- and double-barrier tunnel junctions
• Ultra-sensitive nanoscale magnetic field sensors based on resonant spin filtering
• Tunneling in double barrier junctions with 'hot spots'
• Anomalous tunnel magnetoresistance and spin transfer torque in magnetic tunnel junctions with embedded nanoparticles
• Dynamics of optical excitations in a Fe/MgO(001) heterostructure from time-dependent density functional theory
• Quantum size effects on spin-tunneling time in a magnetic resonant tunneling diode
• Interface-related magnetic and vibrational properties in Fe/MgO heterostructures from nuclear resonant spectroscopy and first-principles calculations
• Study of couplings effect on the performance of a spin-current diode: Nonequilibrium Green's function based model
• Diffusive model of current-in-plane-tunneling in double magnetic tunnel junctions
• Influence of spin-flip on the performance of the spin-diode
• Band-pass superlattice magnetic tunnel junctions