Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 71, Number 5, September 2005
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 811 - 816 | |
Section | Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2005-10142-y | |
Published online | 27 July 2005 |
Large magnetoresistance in a ferromagnetic
Zener diode
1
Electron Physics Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Communications Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology P.O. Box 3500, FIN-02015 HUT, Finland
2
VTT Information Technology, Microelectronics Centre P.O. Box 1208, FIN 02044 VTT, Finland
3
Pulsed Field Group, Laboratory of Solid State Physics and Magnetism K. U. Leuven - Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
Received:
25
April
2005
Accepted:
28
June
2005
We investigate spin-dependent interband tunnelling in a
ferromagnetic
Zener diode. The
ferromagnetic pn-junction is fabricated with a
-doped
p-type
layer on top of a nonmagnetic n-type
substrate. When both sides of the junction are
heavily doped, a large magnetic-field–dependent tunnelling
effect can be seen at low temperatures in the measured
current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. A model for the
tunneling current in a ferromagnetic Zener diode is presented,
and the observed effects are explained by the exchange
interaction related splitting of the valence band states in
. To our knowledge, this is the first time the
effect of the band splitting and a large magnetoresistance
related to the tunnelling processes have been observed
experimentally in the I-V characteristics of a ferromagnetic
Zener diode.
PACS: 73.61.Ey – III-V semiconductors / 75.50.Pp – Magnetic semiconductors / 85.75.-d – Magnetoelectronics; spintronics: devices exploiting spin polarized transport or integrated magnetic fields
© EDP Sciences, 2005
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