Biqin Huang

Electronic measurement and control of spin transport in silicon

The spin lifetime and diffusion length of electrons are transport parameters that define the scale of coherence in spintronic devices and circuits. As these parameters are many orders of magnitude larger in semiconductors than in metals, semiconductors could be the most suitable for spintronics. So far, spin transport has only been measured in direct-bandgap semiconductors or in combination with magnetic semiconductors, excluding a wide range of non-magnetic semiconductors with indirect bandgaps. Most notable in this group is silicon, Si, which (in addition to its market entrenchment in electronics) has long been predicted a superior semiconductor for spintronics with enhanced lifetime and transport length due to low spin–orbit scattering and lattice inversion symmetry. Despite this promise, a demonstration of coherent spin transport in Si has remained elusive, because most experiments focused on magnetoresistive devices; these methods fail because of a fundamental impedance mismatch between ferromagnetic metal and semiconductor, and measurements are obscured by other magnetoelectronic effects. Here we demonstrate conduction-band spin transport across 10 μm undoped Si in a device that operates by spin-dependent ballistic hot-electron filtering through ferromagnetic thin films for both spin injection and spin detection. As it is not based on magnetoresistance, the hot-electron spin injection and spin detection avoids impedance mismatch issues and prevents interference from parasitic effects. The clean collector current shows independent magnetic and electrical control of spin precession, and thus confirms spin coherent drift in the conduction band of silicon.

Coherent spin transport through a 350 micron thick silicon wafer.

We use all-electrical methods to inject, transport, and detect spin-polarized electrons vertically through a 350-micron-thick undoped single-crystal silicon wafer. Spin precession measurements in a perpendicular magnetic field at different accelerating electric fields reveal high spin coherence with at least 13pi precession angles. The magnetic-field spacing of precession extrema are used to determine the injector-to-detector electron transit time. These transit time values are associated with output magnetocurrent changes (from in-plane spin-valve measurements), which are proportional to final spin polarization. Fitting the results to a simple exponential spin-decay model yields a conduction electron spin lifetime (T1) lower bound in silicon of over 500 ns at 60 K.

Geometric dephasing-limited Hanle effect in long-distance lateral silicon spin transport devices

Evidence of spin precession and dephasing (“Hanle effect”) induced by a magnetic field is the only unequivocal proof of spin-polarized conduction electron transport in semiconductor devices. However, when spin dephasing is very strong, Hanle effect in a uniaxial magnetic field can be impossible to measure. Using a silicon device with lateral injector-detector separation of over 2 mm and geometrically induced dephasing making spin transport completely incoherent, we show experimentally and theoretically that Hanle effect can still be measured using a two-axis magnetic field.

Experimental realization of a silicon spin field-effect transistor

A longitudinal electric field is used to control the transit time (through an undoped silicon vertical channel) of spin-polarized electrons precessing in a perpendicular magnetic field. Since an applied voltage determines the final spin direction at the spin detector and hence the output collector current, this comprises a spin field-effect transistor. An improved hot-electron spin injector providing ≈115% magnetocurrent, corresponding to at least ≈37% electron current spin polarization after transport through 10μm undoped single-crystal silicon, is used for maximum current modulation.

Spin dephasing in drift-dominated semiconductor spintronics devices

A spin transport model is employed to study the effects of spin dephasing induced by diffusion-driven transit-time uncertainty through semiconductor spintronic devices where drift is the dominant transport mechanism. It is found that in the ohmic regime, dephasing is independent of transit length, and determined primarily by voltage drop across the spin transport region. The effects of voltage and temperature predicted by the model are compared to experimental results from a 350-micron-thick silicon spin-transport device using derived mathematical expressions of spin dephasing.

Spin lifetime in silicon in the presence of parasitic electronic effects

A hybrid ferromagnet/semiconductor device is used to determine a lower bound on the spin lifetime for conduction electrons in silicon. We use spin precession to self-consistently measure the drift velocity versus drift field of spin-polarized electrons, and use this electronic control to change the transit time between electron injection and detection. A measurement of normalized magnetocurrent as a function of drift velocity is used with a simple exponential-decay model to argue that the value obtained (≈2 ns) is artificially lowered by electronic effects and could potentially be orders of magnitude higher.

Self-assembly of epitaxial monolayers for vacuum wafer bonding

Self-assembled epitaxial metal monolayers can be used for heterointegration of mismatched semiconductors, leading to simultaneously low interfacial resistance and high optical transparency. Lattice-mismatched wafers of Si(100) and Si(111) were bonded at room temperature in situ after vacuum deposition of a single atomic layer of Ag. The interfacial resistance was measured to be 3.9×10−4Ωcm2 and the optical transmission of the interface at 2500nm is approximately 98%. Electron confinement in ultrathin Ag layers as a possible contributor to the bonding energy.

Spin-valve phototransistor

The spin-valve phototransistor is a semiconductor-ferromagnetic metal multilayer-semiconductor transistor operated by photoexciting hot electrons in the emitter semiconductor into a Schottky collector. This device uses an ultra-high vacuum-bonded float zone Si/multilayer/n-InP structure. To distinguish the emitter interband-excited component of collector current from base/collector internal photoemission, a lock-in spectroscopy sensitive only to the magnetocurrent is used. The experimental results indicate a pathway to improve the magnetocurrent of a related device, the spin-valve photodiode, by increasing the fraction of hot electron current that travels through both layers of the ferromagnetic spin valve and demonstrate that hot electrons photogenerated in one semiconductor can be collected by another through a thin ferromagnetic multilayer.

Perpendicular hot electron transport in the spin-valve photodiode

The spin-valve photodiode is a ferromagnetic metal multilayer/n-type semiconductor Schottky device operated by photoexciting hot electrons in the metal and causing internal photoemission (IPE) into the semiconductor. Simple IPE theory predicts that the magnitude of the spin-valve effect (modulation of the photocurrent) should monotonically increase as a metallic capping layer thickness increases. Experimentally, however, we observe a nonmonotonic behavior with cap layer thickness, where the magnetocurrent reaches an optimum value and then decreases. The disagreement between this experimental result and the previous theoretical model is discussed, leading to an alternative interpretation of transport including reflection from the air-metal interface. Calculations with this model are consistent with the observed phenomena.

Bottom–Up-Fabricated Oxide–Metal–Semiconductor Spin-Valve Transistor

Spin-valve transistors (SVTs) employing hot-electron transport through ferromagnetic multilayers have large magnetocurrent (MC), making them a promising magnetic field sensor. However, the assembly technique required for fabricating the necessary semiconductor-metal-semiconductor structure limits their use. We have circumvented this problem with an alternative fabrication technique and show a greater than 300% MC change in SVT devices employing a sputter-deposited zinc oxide (ZnO) semiconductor emitter as hot-electron injector. The compatibility of this process to standard fabrication techniques makes it possible to integrate the SVT into present-day industrial technology.