High-Efficient Spin Injection in GaN at Room Temperature Through A Van der Waals Tunnelling Barrier

Di Lin; Wenyu Kang; Qipeng Wu; Anke Song; Xuefeng Wu; Guozhen Liu; Jianfeng Wu; Yaping Wu; Xu Li; Zhiming Wu; Duanjun Cai; Jun Yin; Junyong Kang

doi:10.1186/s11671-022-03712-5

High-Efficient Spin Injection in GaN at Room Temperature Through A Van der Waals Tunnelling Barrier

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2022 Aug 15;17(1):74. doi: 10.1186/s11671-022-03712-5.

Authors

Di Lin^#¹, Wenyu Kang^#¹, Qipeng Wu^#¹, Anke Song¹, Xuefeng Wu¹, Guozhen Liu¹, Jianfeng Wu², Yaping Wu³, Xu Li⁴, Zhiming Wu⁵, Duanjun Cai¹, Jun Yin², Junyong Kang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Engineering Research Center for Micro-Nano Optoelectronic Materials and Devices at Education Ministry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiujiang Research Institute, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, People's Republic of China.
² Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Semiconductors and Efficient Devices, Jiujiang Research Institute, Department of Physics/Pen-Tung Sah Institute of Micro-Nano Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Engineering Research Center for Micro-Nano Optoelectronic Materials and Devices at Education Ministry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiujiang Research Institute, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, People's Republic of China. ypwu@xmu.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Engineering Research Center for Micro-Nano Optoelectronic Materials and Devices at Education Ministry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiujiang Research Institute, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, People's Republic of China. xuliphys@xmu.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Engineering Research Center for Micro-Nano Optoelectronic Materials and Devices at Education Ministry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiujiang Research Institute, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, People's Republic of China. zmwu@xmu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Achieving high-efficient spin injection in semiconductors is critical for developing spintronic devices. Although a tunnel spin injector is typically used, the construction of a high-quality tunnel barrier remains a significant challenge due to the large lattice mismatch between oxides and semiconductors. In this work, van der Waals h-BN films with the atomically flat interface were engaged as the tunnel barrier to achieve high spin polarization in GaN, and the spin injection and transport in GaN were investigated systematically. Based on the Hanle precession and magnetic resistance measurements, CoFeB was determined as an optimal spin polarizer, bilayer h-BN tunnelling barrier was proven to yield a much higher spin polarization than the case of monolayer, and appropriate carrier concentration as well as higher crystal equality of n-GaN could effectively reduce the defect-induced spin scattering to improve the spin transport. The systematic understanding and the high efficiency of spin injection in this work may pave the way to the development of physical connotations and the applications of semiconductor spintronics.

Keywords: Boron nitride; Spin injection; Spintronic devices; Van der Waals tunnelling barrier.

Abstract

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