Large magnetoresistance in a ferromagnetic Zener diode

H. Holmberg; N. Lebedeva; S. Novikov; J. Ikonen; P. Kuivalainen; M. Malfait; V. V. Moshchalkov

doi:10.1209/epl/i2005-10142-y

All issues

Volume 71 / No 5 (September 2005)

Europhys. Lett., 71 5 (2005) 811-816

Abstract

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

Europhys. Lett., 71 (5), pp. 811-816 (2005)

Large magnetoresistance in a ferromagnetic $\chem{GaMnAs/GaAs}$ Zener diode

H. Holmberg¹, N. Lebedeva¹, S. Novikov¹, J. Ikonen¹, P. Kuivalainen¹^,2, M. Malfait³ and V. V. Moshchalkov³

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

Abstract

We investigate spin-dependent interband tunnelling in a ferromagnetic $\chem{(Ga,Mn)As/}$ $\chem{GaAs}$ Zener diode. The ferromagnetic pn-junction is fabricated with a $\chem{Mn}$ -doped p-type $\chem{GaAs}$ layer on top of a nonmagnetic n-type $\chem{GaAs}$ 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 $\chem{(Ga,Mn)As}$ . 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

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