Ferromagnetic Metalrsemiconductor Heterostructures For Magneto-Electronic Devices

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Sensors and Actuators 81 2000. 258262 www.elsevier.

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Ferromagnetic metalrsemiconductor heterostructures for magneto-electronic devices


Y.B. Xu a , E.T.M. Kernohan a , D.J. Freeland a , M. Tselepi a , J.A.C. Bland a , S. Holmes D.A. Ritchie a
a

b,)

Caendish Laboratory, Uniersity of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK b Toshiba Cambridge Research Laboratory, Cambridge CB4 0WE, UK

Abstract We have successfully grown single crystal Fe films on InAs100. and InAsgraded.rGaAs100. substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. In situ magneto-optical Kerr effect MOKE. and ex situ alternating gradient field magnetometry AGFM. measurements show that the films have well defined magnetic properties, and IV measurements in the temperature range 2.5304 K show that Fe forms an ohmic contact on InAs. This demonstrates that FerInAs is a very promising system for use in future magneto-electronic devices as it has both favorable magnetic and electrical properties. We also show that with careful substrate preparation and suitable growth conditions FerGaAs films do not exhibit a magnetically dead layer at the interface. A spin-polarized field effect transistor based on FerInAsrGaAs has been proposed, which could operate using either an external electric field or an external magnetic field. q 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Ultrathin films; Interface magnetism; FerGaAs; FerInAs; Magnetoelectronics

1. Introduction Over the past three decades solid state electronics has developed dramatically, but with very little attention devoted to incorporating magnetic materials into integrated electronic devices. However, an exciting new field of electronics, magnetoelectronics w1x, has attracted much attention recently, which is based on the fact that electrons have spin as well as charge. Future magneto-electronic devices, in which the spin of the electron is controlled, are expected to find applications based on hybrid semiconductor structures. A spin-polarized field effect transistor spin FET. has already been proposed w2x, which is based on the injection of spin-polarized electrons from a ferromagnetic source into the semiconductor. The development of magnetoelectronics stems essentially from the successful epitaxial growth of high quality single crystal ferromagnetic metal FM. films on oriented semiconductor substrates, where the magnetic properties

Corresponding author.

can be controlled. The most extensively studied system to date is FerGaAs. Epitaxial growth has been achieved by several groups w36x, due in part to the fact that the lattice constant of bcc Fe a o s 2.866 A. is almost exactly half a o s 5.654 A., as shown in Fig. 1. Howthat of GaAs ever, as Fe forms a rectifying contact on GaAs, the Schottky barrier ; 0.8 eV for FerGaAs w7x. prevents efficient spin-injection from the FM pads to the semiconductor substrates. The fabrication of ever smaller devices leads to higher current densities, which in turn need low resistance ohmic contacts to reduce thermal dissipation. Metals on narrow gap semiconductors, such as InAs which has a direct band gap as small as 0.36 eV at 300 K Fig. 1., form low resistance contacts w7x. InAs also has a higher low-field mobility than GaAs and InP, which makes it an excellent candidate for high speed field effect transistors w8x. The crystal structure of InAs is very similar to that of GaAs, namely a zincblende structure composed of two nested face-centered-cubic cells w9x. Though the lattice mismatch of Fe and InAs ao s 6.058 A. of 5.4% is much larger than that of FerGaAs 1.3%. as shown in Fig. 1., it is possible that bcc Fe may stabilize on InAs through a lattice relaxation process. It is well known that in semicon-

0924-4247r00r$ - see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 4 2 4 7 9 9 . 0 0 1 3 7 - 5

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gradient magnetometry AGFM. with sensitivity up to 10y6 emu.

3. Fe r GaAs(100) The substrates used in this study are As capped GaAs001. prepared in another UHV chamber. A buffer layer ; 0.5 mm. of homoepitaxial GaAs was grown on the commercial wafer to provide the smoothest possible GaAs surface. The As capping layer began to desorb at around 3408C and the substrate was further annealed to 5508C for 1 h to obtain a clean and ordered surface. Fe films were grown at room temperature rather than higher temperature ; 1758C. to reduce the intermixing of Fe with Ga or As at the interface. However, higher temperature growth usually results in better epitaxy w3,5x. The LEED picture Fig. 2a. of the substrate shows a very clear p4 = 6. reconstruction, typical for Ga rich surfaces w12x. This clear and sharp LEED pattern for the reconstructed surface indicates that the GaAs substrate surface is very flat and well crystallized. Auger measurements show that the substrate is free of O and C after As desorption. The LEED patterns were monitored as Fe was deposited. Clear LEED patterns were observed after the deposition of 5 ML. The LEED pattern of a 140 ML Fe film is shown in Fig. 2b, which demonstrated that Fe grows epitaxially on GaAs001. at room temperature with the epitaxial relationship Fe001.100:5GaAs001.100:. The evolution of the ferromagnetic phase has been studied in detail using in situ MOKE measurements. We found that the magnetic phase proceeds via three phases; a non-magnetic phase for the first three and a half monolay-

Fig. 1. The fundamental energy gap against lattice constant for several common IIIV compounds and silicongermanium. The lattice constant =2. is shown for bcc Fe.

ductor growth, such as InAs on GaAs w10x, high quality epitaxy can be achieved despite the large lattice mismatch of two materials 7.1%.. Fig. 1 also shows several classes of IIIV materials, as well as the strained silicon germanium system, that are closely lattice matched to InAs, InP, and GaAs. In this paper we demonstrate that single crystal bcc Fe can be grown epitaxially on InAs100. and InAsgraded.rGaAs substrates, and that the electron tunneling across FerInAs interface is energy barrier-free. We also show that with a well prepared substrate, FerGaAs films do not exhibit a magnetically dead layer at the interface, which would be detrimental to the spin-dependent electron tunneling.

2. Experiments This study was carried out in a multi-technique molecular beam epitaxy MBE. system, which includes in situ magneto-optical Kerr effect MOKE. and Brillouin light scattering BLS. to probe the static and dynamic magnetic properties of samples, and scanning tunneling microscopy STM., low energy electron diffraction LEED., reflection high energy electron diffraction RHEED., and Auger spectroscopy to provide structural, morphological and compositional information. The Fe films were grown at a rate of approximately one monolayer ML. per minute using an e-beam evaporator. The pressure during growth was around 78 = 10y1 0 mbar. The deposition rate was monitored by a quartz microbalance which was calibrated using RHEED oscillations of Fe on an Ag100. single crystal. The MOKE hysteresis loops were collected in the longitudinal geometry with an intensity stabilized HeNe laser w11x. Currentvoltage IV . characterization was performed ex situ in the 3042.5 K temperature range using a Keithley 236 source-measure unit. The magnetization was measured ex situ using alternating field

Fig. 2. LEED patterns of a. GaAs100. 135 eV, b. Fe140 ML.r GaAs100. 136 eV; c. InAs100. substrate 68 eV, and d. Fe50 ML.r InAs100. 136 eV.

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Fig. 3. Magnetization hysteresis loops of a. Fe14 ML.rGaAs001. and b. Fe40 ML.rGaAs001. measured using AGFM with the magnetic field.

ers, a short-range-ordered superparamagnetic phase, and a ferromagnetic phase above about five monolayers. Detailed results are presented in Ref. w13x. The in situ MOKE results indicate that the magnetization does not vary strongly with thickness after the onset of the ferromagnetism. The magnetizations of two FerGaAs samples have also been measured using AGFM. Fig. 3 shows the magnetization hysteresis loops of two samples; a. Au20 ML.rFe14 ML.rGaAs001. and b. Au20 ML.rFe40 ML.rGaAs001.. The total magnetic moment from the 40 ML of Fe is about 2.8 times bigger than that from the 14 ML, which is in proportion to their thicknesses. The magnetization of the films is 1.6 " 0.2 = 10 3 emurcm3 , only slightly smaller than that of the bulk bcc Fe1.71 = 10 3 emurcm3 .. The AGFM measurements further show that the magnetization is approximately thickness-independent and the Fe films have a bulk-like moment.

for higher coverages. A typical LEED pattern is shown in Fig. 2d after 50 ML of deposition, which demonstrates that single crystal bcc Fe films have been stabilized on InAs100. y 4 = 2. The epitaxial relationship is Fe100. 001:5InAs100.001:, i.e., the same as that for the FerGaAs system. The magnetic properties were studied with in situ MOKE measurements. A clear magnetic signal was detected after 4 ML of deposition. The amplitude and the remanent ratio of the MOKE-loops increase with increasing coverage. Above about 15 ML of Fe, square loops were observed when the field is applied along the 001: directions, similar to those in Fig. 4a, which shows MOKE-hysteresis loops for an Fe50 ML.rInAs100. film along the four major crystal-axes. The films clearly display a cubic anisotropy, with the magnetic easy axes along 001:, the easy axes of bulk bcc Fe. The coercivity, Hc , of the 50 ML film is 28 " 1 Oe, which is very similar to that of FerGaAs; e.g., Hc s 25 Oe and Hc ; 30 Oe were reported by Florczak and Dahlberg w4x, and Gester et al. w5x, respectively. The magnetization of an Au20 ML.rFe100 ML.rInAs film has been measured using AGFM. The magnetic moment 1.7 " 0.2 = 10 3 emurcm3 of the film is comparable

4. Fe r InAs(100) The InAs100. substrates used are commercial wafers. Before loading into the UHV system, the substrates were cleaned using a combination of oxygen plasma etching and wet etching HCl: H 2 O s 1:4.. The LEED picture of the substrate after annealing at 5108C for half an hour is shown in Fig. 2c. The clearly 4 = 2 reconstructed LEED pattern indicates that the cleaning procedure produces a well-ordered surface. Auger measurements show that after annealing the substrate is free of O, but contains a small amount of C. Fe films were grown at 1758C, which is expected to produce better epitaxial growth, but may introduce intermixing at the interface. The LEED patterns were monitored as Fe was deposited. After approximately 5 ML of deposition, faint LEED spots from the Fe film appear. The LEED spots become clearer and sharper with increasing coverage up to 25 ML and then retain a similar shape

Fig. 4. In situ MOKE hysteresis loops of a. Fe50 ML.rInAs100., and b. Fe78 ML, and 140 ML.rInAsgraded.rGaAs100. for the magnetic field applied along four or two major crystal-axes.

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layer. Although GaAs and InAs are not lattice matched 7% mismatch., a smooth alloy transition over a thickness of 50 nm was found to produce a relatively uniform layer w14x. The substrate was capped with As and then transferred to the UHV chamber for the deposition. The As capping layer was desorbed before Fe growth. The temperature was kept at 1758C during Fe growth. The magnetic and structural properties have been studied in detail during growth w15x. LEED measurements showed that Fe grew epitaxially on this graded InAs buffer layer. In situ MOKE in Fig. 4b showed a distinct cubic anisotropy with the easy axis along 001:, which confirms that well ordered single crystal Fe films have been stabilised on this InAs graded.rGaAs substrate.

Fig. 5. I V measurements of Fe50 ML.rInAs100. in the temperature range 2.5 to 304 K. The dimension of the Fe contacts, processed using optical lithography, is 50 mm with separation of about 250 mm.

6. Spin-polarized FET Dattas and Das w2x have suggested the construction of a spin-polarized field effect transistor FET., which applied the spin-injection concept to a semiconductor. Such devices have not yet been demonstrated as far as we know. This may be due to the difficulty in achieving a low resistance contact between the FM pad and the two dimensional electron gas 2DEG.. Based on the growth studies given above, a spin FET device is being developed in our group. Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of this device. The spin-polarized carriers are injected and collected by single crystal Fe elements, in which the electrons have a long coherence length. With an InAs graded buffer layer, there is no energy barrier for the electron to tunnel through FM2DEGFM channel. The device in Fig. 6 can operate

with that of bulk Fe. It is interesting to note that the magnetizations of FerGaAs and FerInAs when both are grown at 1758C are very different. The magnetization is only 1.0 = 10 3 emurcm3 emu, reduced by 40%, for a Fe film of 96 A 67 ML. on GaAs w3x. This indicates that Fe moments near the interface in FerInAs are much larger than that in FerGaAs under the same growth condition. Fe is expected to form an ohmic contact to InAs due to the pinning of the Fermi energy in the conduction band at the InAs surface, which results in a charge accumulation layer at the surface. In order to verify this, the samples were characterized by currentvoltage IV . measurements. The Fe contacts, with dimensions of approximately 50 mm, were processed using optical lithography and a combination of CHF3 based reactive ion etching and selective wet etching. The substrate is n-type InAs with ; 2.5 = 10 18 cmy3 sulfur doping. Typical IV characteristics are shown in Fig. 5. They are linear over the temperature range 304 to 2.5 K and show no indication of a Schottky barrier. The equivalent resistance is weakly dependent on temperature, varying from 5 to 2.8 V in the temperature range 304 to 2.5 K. This is due to the increase of the mobility at low temperature. In conclusion, we have successfully grown single crystal Fe films which form low-resistance ohmic contacts on InAs100..

5. Fe r In x Ga 1I x As(50 nm) r GaAs(100) To minimize the effect of the Schottky barrier in GaAs based devices, a graded layer of n-In xGa 1yx As from GaAs to InAs was grown on GaAs before FM deposition. The ferromagnetic metal should then form an ohmic contact without the need to diffuse the contacts into the active region of the devices, which would create an amorphous

Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of the spin-polarized field effect transistor FET. using graded InAs buffer layer and single crystal Fe pads, a. control by external electric field, and b. control by the external magnetic field.

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in two modes; a. Control by external electric fielda gate voltage is applied to the 2DEG to alter the spin precession, as proposed by Prinz w16x. This will allow control of the alignment of the electrons spin with respect to the magnetization vector of the second FM pad so as to modulate the current. b. Control by external magnetic fieldswitching of each Fe pad could be controlled separately by applying an external magnetic field if the two Fe pads have different shapes. It has been previously shown that the coercivity of the ferromagnetic wires depends on the square ratio due to the influence of shape anisotropy w17,18x. The resistances of the device could be different for two different configurations, namely parallel and antiparallel alignment of the magnetization orientations if the separation of the two FM pads is smaller than the spin-diffusion length in the 2DEG. The fabrication of such elements in both single crystal Fe and FeNi has been well demonstrated in our laboratory w17,18x. The spin-diffusion length of electron in 2DEG is still an open issue of current interest.

Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the partial financial support of the EPSRC and ESPRIT EC.. We thank Prof. M. Pepper for his help with this project.

References
w1x G.A. Prinz, in: B. Heinrich, J.A.C. Bland Eds.., Ultrathin Magnetic Structures, Springer, Berlin, 1994. w2x S. Datta, B. Das, Appl. Phys. Lett. 56 1990. 665. w3x J.J. Krebs, B.T. Jonker, G.A. Prinz, J. Appl. Phys. 61 1987. 2596. w4x J.M. Florczak, E.D. Dahlberg, Phys. Rev. B 44 1991. 9338. w5x M. Gester, C. Daboo, R.J. Hicken, S.J. Gray, A. Ercole, J.A.C. Bland, J. Appl. Phys. 80 1996. 347. w6x A. Filipe, A. Schuhl, P. Galtier, Appl. Phys. Lett. 70 1997. 129. w7x E.H. Rhoderick, R.H. Williams Eds.., Metal-semiconductor Contacts, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1988. w8x S. Holmes, R.A. Stradling, P.D. Wang, R. Droopad, S.D. Parker, L. Williams, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 4 1989. 303. w9x Semiconductors: Physics of Group IV Elements and IIIV Compounds, LB New Series, IIIr17a, Springer, Berlin, 1982. w10x F. Houzay, C. Guille, J.M. Moison, P. Henoc, F. Baithe, J. Cryst. Growth 81 1987. 67. w11x J.A.C. Bland, M.J. Padgett, R.J. Butcher, M. Bett, J. Phys. E: Sci. Instrum. 22 1989. 308. w12x R.Z. Bachrach, R.S. Bauer, P. Chiaradia, G.V. Hanson, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. 18 1981. 797. w13x Y.B. Xu, E.T.M. Kernohan, D.J. Freeland, A. Ercole, M. Tselepi, J.A.C. Bland, Phys. Rev. B 58 1998. 890. w14x S. Holmes et al., unpublished. w15x Y.B. Xu et al., unpublished. w16x G.A. Prinz, Science 250 1990. 1092. w17x A.O. Adeyeye, G. Lauhoff, J.A.C. Bland, C. Daboo, D.G. Hasko, H. Ahmed, Appl. Phys. Lett. 70 1997. 1046. w18x E. Gu, E. Ahmad, S.J. Gray, C. Daboo, J.A.C. Bland, L.M. Brown, J.N. Chapman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78 1997. 1158.

7. Conclusion We demonstrate that with careful substrate preparation and suitable growth conditions FerGaAs100. films do not exhibit a magnetically dead layer at the interface. We have also shown that the metalrsemiconductor heterostructure FerInAs100. may have suitable electrical and magnetic properties for the fabrication of future magnetoelectronic devices, and that the favourable properties of this interface may be taken advantage of in GaAs based devices by using an InAsgraded.rGaAs100. substrate.

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