Multiferroic tunnel junctions and ferroelectric control of magnetic state at interface (invited)

Journal Article · Thu May 07 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4913753· OSTI ID:22402962

Yin, Y. W.; Raju, M.; Li, Qi ^[1]; Hu, W. J. ^[2]; Burton, J. D.; Gruverman, A.; Tsymbal, E. Y. ^[3]; Kim, Y. -M.; Borisevich, A. Y.; Pennycook, S. J. ^[4]; Yang, S. M.; Noh, T. W. ^[5]; Li, X. G. ^[6]; Zhang, Z. D. ^[7]

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1. Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (United States)
2. Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900 (Saudi Arabia)
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy and Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0299 (United States)
4. Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 (United States)
5. IBS-Center for Functional Interfaces of Correlated Electron Systems, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747 (Korea, Republic of)
6. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026 (China)
7. Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 (China)

As semiconductor devices reach ever smaller dimensions, the challenge of power dissipation and quantum effect place a serious limit on the future device scaling. Recently, a multiferroic tunnel junction (MFTJ) with a ferroelectric barrier sandwiched between two ferromagnetic electrodes has drawn enormous interest due to its potential applications not only in multi-level data storage but also in electric field controlled spintronics and nanoferronics. Here, we present our investigations on four-level resistance states, giant tunneling electroresistance (TER) due to interfacial magnetoelectric coupling, and ferroelectric control of spin polarized tunneling in MFTJs. Coexistence of large tunneling magnetoresistance and TER has been observed in manganite/(Ba, Sr)TiO{sub 3}/manganite MFTJs at low temperatures and room temperature four-resistance state devices were also obtained. To enhance the TER for potential logic operation with a magnetic memory, La{sub 0.7}Sr{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3}/BaTiO{sub 3}/La{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}MnO{sub 3} /La{sub 0.7}Sr{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3} MFTJs were designed by utilizing a bilayer tunneling barrier in which BaTiO{sub 3} is ferroelectric and La{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}MnO{sub 3} is close to ferromagnetic metal to antiferromagnetic insulator phase transition. The phase transition occurs when the ferroelectric polarization is reversed, resulting in an increase of TER by two orders of magnitude. Tunneling magnetoresistance can also be controlled by the ferroelectric polarization reversal, indicating strong magnetoelectric coupling at the interface.

• OSTI ID: 22402962
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 17; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANTIFERROMAGNETISM
BARIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
COUPLING
DIFFUSION BARRIERS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
EV RANGE
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
INTERFACES
LANTHANUM COMPOUNDS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETORESISTANCE
MANGANATES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
POLARIZATION
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SPIN ORIENTATION
STRONTIUM TITANATES
TUNNEL EFFECT