Extremely large magnetoresistance in boron-doped silicon

Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Mar 28;100(12):127202. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.127202. Epub 2008 Mar 27.

Abstract

Boron-doped Si-SiO2-Al structures are fabricated to study extremely large magnetoresistance (MR) effects. Current-voltage characteristics show a nonlinear behavior, dominated by an autocatalytic process of impact ionization. At low temperatures, the magnetic field postpones the onset of impact ionization to higher electric fields. This results in a symmetric positive MR of over 10,000% at 400 kA/m. Applying a magnetic field leads to an increase of the acceptor level compared to the valence band as deduced by admittance spectroscopy. A macroscopic transport model is introduced to describe how the MR is controlled by voltage, electrode spacing, and oxide thickness.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't