Jagadeesh S. Moodera

Spin polarized tunneling in ferromagnetic junctions

Abstract Spin polarized tunneling studies by Tedrow and Meservey in the early 1970s that showed the spin conservation in electron tunneling gave rise to the possibility of spin sensitive tunneling between two ferromagnetic (FM) films. Julliere put forward a quantitative model (1975) showing that tunneling in FM/I/FM junctions should lead to a large magnetoresistance (JMR). This conjecture was realized with repeatable results only in 1995, and since then JMR values >30% have been achieved at room temperature. This recent success has led to several fundamental questions regarding the phenomenon of spin tunneling, besides showing tremendous potential for applications as nonvolatile magnetic memory elements, read head and picotesla field sensors. We briefly review the experimental results and the current theoretical understanding of FM–I–FM tunneling: its dependence on bias, temperature and barrier characteristics. The influence of inelastic tunneling processes, metal at the interface and material properties on the JMR is discussed. Early theories are reviewed and their relationship to the linear response theory is presented. The future direction, both from the point of fundamental physics as well as applications, is also covered.

Half Metallic Magnets

Not to be confused with semiconductors, half metals belong to a new class of materials that look set to play a key role in next-generation electronic devices.

Ferromagnetic–insulator–ferromagnetic tunneling: Spin‐dependent tunneling and large magnetoresistance in trilayer junctions (invited)

Tunneling between ferromagnet–insulator–ferromagnet (FM–I–FM) trilayer thin‐film planar junctions has been successfully studied. Tunnel current was observed to be dependent on the relative orientation of the magnetization (M). Co, CoCr, CoFe, Fe0.7Pt0.3, and NiFe were tried as the FM electrodes with Al2O3 or MgO as the barrier layers for the above studies. Large magnetoresistance (MR) was observed as the M alignment of the two ferromagnets changed from being parallel to antiparallel orientation. At room temperature, the highest change in junction MR was 18%, field sensitivity factor reaching 5%/Oe in the best cases. The MR value increased to 25.6% at 4.2 K, and decreased as the dc bias was increased to a fraction of the barrier height. The angular dependence of MR varied nearly as the cosine of the relative angle of M, as predicted by Slonczewski’s theory. The magnitude of MR agrees well with that given by Julliere’s model, which predicts that the MR varies as the product of the conduction electron spin p...

Interface-engineered templates for molecular spin memory devices

The use of molecular spin state as a quantum of information for storage, sensing and computing has generated considerable interest in the context of next-generation data storage and communication devices, opening avenues for developing multifunctional molecular spintronics. Such ideas have been researched extensively, using single-molecule magnets and molecules with a metal ion or nitrogen vacancy as localized spin-carrying centres for storage and for realizing logic operations. However, the electronic coupling between the spin centres of these molecules is rather weak, which makes construction of quantum memory registers a challenging task. In this regard, delocalized carbon-based radical species with unpaired spin, such as phenalenyl, have shown promise. These phenalenyl moieties, which can be regarded as graphene fragments, are formed by the fusion of three benzene rings and belong to the class of open-shell systems. The spin structure of these molecules responds to external stimuli (such as light, and electric and magnetic fields), which provides novel schemes for performing spin memory and logic operations. Here we construct a molecular device using such molecules as templates to engineer interfacial spin transfer resulting from hybridization and magnetic exchange interaction with the surface of a ferromagnet; the device shows an unexpected interfacial magnetoresistance of more than 20 per cent near room temperature. Moreover, we successfully demonstrate the formation of a nanoscale magnetic molecule with a well-defined magnetic hysteresis on ferromagnetic surfaces. Owing to strong magnetic coupling with the ferromagnet, such independent switching of an adsorbed magnetic molecule has been unsuccessful with single-molecule magnets. Our findings suggest the use of chemically amenable phenalenyl-based molecules as a viable and scalable platform for building molecular-scale quantum spin memory and processors for technological development.

Semiconducting and ferromagnetic behavior of sputtered Co-doped TiO2 thin films above room temperature

We have investigated Co-doped TiO2 thin films grown by reactive co-sputtering. X-ray diffraction showed a single phase polycrystalline rutile structure, without any segregation of Co into particulates within the instrumental resolution limit. The atomic content of Co ranged from 1% to 12%. The temperature dependence of resistivity showed an extrinsic semiconducting behavior. From optical absorption measurements, the band gap Eg≈3.25±0.05 eV was found, independent of the Co concentration, and in agreement with a literature value. Room temperature M-H loops showed a ferromagnetic behavior for Co content higher than 3%. The magnetic moment per Co atom was estimated to be about 0.94 μB, suggesting a low spin configuration of Co ions. The temperature dependence of remanent magnetization revealed a Curie temperature higher than 400 K for Co content of 12%.

Geometrically enhanced magnetoresistance in ferromagnet–insulator–ferromagnet tunnel junctions

Ferromagnetic–insulator–ferromagnetic trilayer tunnel junctions show magnetoresistance (JMR) effects of about 14% or greater at room temperature. Much larger values of the JMR (100% or more) are observed when the actual tunneling resistance (RT) is comparable to electrode film resistance (RL) over the junction area. This latter apparent JMR is an artifact of the nonuniform current flow over the junction in the cross geometry of the electrodes. The ferromagnetic films were CoFe and Co or Ni0.8Fe0.2, and the tunnel barrier was AlN or Al2O3. These junctions show nonvolatile memory effects. The geometrically enhanced large JMR in junctions can be effectively used as magnetic sensors and memory elements.

The phenomena of spin-filter tunnelling

The spin filtering phenomenon allows one to obtain highly spin-polarized charge carriers generated from nonmagnetic electrodes using magnetic tunnel barriers. The exponential dependence of tunnel current on the tunnel barrier height is operative here. The magnetic, semiconducting europium chalcogenide compounds have strikingly demonstrated this effect. The possibility of employing ferrites and other methods opens the potential for display of this phenomenon at room temperature, which can be expected to lead to huge progress in spin injection and detection in semiconductors. But first, extremely challenging material-related issues have to be addressed. This review covers the field.

Electrically tunable surface-to-bulk coherent coupling in topological insulator thin films

We study coherent transport in density tunable micro-devices patterned from thin films of the topological insulator (TI) Bi2Se3. The devices exhibit pronounced electric field effect, including ambipolar modulation of the resistance with an on/off ratio of 500%. We show that the weak antilocalization (WAL) correction to conductance is sensitive to the number of coherently coupled channels, which in a TI includes the top and bottom surface and the bulk carriers. These are separated into coherently independent channels by the application of gate voltage and at elevated temperatures. Our results are consistent with a model where channel separation is determined by a competition between the coherence time and surface-bulk scattering time.

OPTIMUM TUNNEL BARRIER IN FERROMAGNETIC-INSULATOR-FERROMAGNETIC TUNNELING STRUCTURES

Al2O3 tunnel barriers I, formed by the oxidization of Al metal of various thicknesses between two ferromagnetic (FM) films were investigated to understand the influence of overlayer metal Al on the junction magnetoresistance (JMR). The optimum thickness of Al was observed to lie in the range of 1–1.6 nm to achieve good JMR in FM–I–FM junctions. Additionally, such junctions can be used to study the magnetic proximity effect in ferromagnet/normal metal bilayer systems.

Spin-polarized tunneling in a half-metallic ferromagnet

Direct measurement of the conduction electron spin polarization (P) in epitaxial NiMnSb was performed to test the prediction of half metallicity in this material. Spin-polarized tunneling in NiMnSb/Al2O3/Al junctions showed P of 28%, contrary to the predicted value of 100%. Magnetoresistance measurements in NiMnSb/Al2O3/Ni80Fe20 junctions concurred with this result. The discrepancy between theory and experiment is discussed. Also, the latter junctions show four nonvolatile remanent states due to the NiMnSb magnetocrystalline anisotropy, which has potential as four-level logic elements.