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Spin-dependent giant junction magnetoresistance in simple Fe/p-Si(001) Schottky heretrojunction at low temperature

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Abstract

We report on the giant junction magnetoresistance observed at low temperature in Fe/p-Si Schottky heterojunction. The device shows good rectifying characteristics at room temperature and a dual—Schottky as well as magnetic diode—characteristics at low temperature, below 50 K. Formation of a magnetic field-dependent potential barrier due to electrical injection of spin-polarized carriers from the ferromagnetic electrode into the semiconductor is speculated to result in such large junction resistance. The magnetoresistance value is of the order of \(10^{4}\%\) at 10 K and saturates at \(\sim 0.5\,\hbox {kOe}\), showing dual functionality—working as a magnetic diode as well as a magnetoresistive element.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), India (Project No. EMR/2014/001026) for this work. The authors, Anirban Sarkar and Rajdeep Adhikari, would like to further acknowledge the financial support of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. We would also like to thank Patrick Schö ffmann from Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH for reading and correcting the manuscript.

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  1. Anirban Sarkar

    Present address: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Quantum Materials and Collective Phenomena (JCNS-2/PGI-4), 52425, Jülich, Germany

  2. Rajdeep Adhikari

    Present address: Institut für Halbleiter- und Festkörperphysik, Johannes Kepler Universität, 4040, Linz, Austria

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Anirban Sarkar, Rajdeep Adhikari & Amal Kumar Das

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  1. Anirban Sarkar
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Sarkar, A., Adhikari, R. & Das, A.K. Spin-dependent giant junction magnetoresistance in simple Fe/p-Si(001) Schottky heretrojunction at low temperature. Appl. Phys. A 125, 60 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2360-4

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