A hybrid ferromagnet/semiconductor device is used to determine a lower bound on the spin lifetime for conduction electrons in silicon. We use spin precession to self-consistently measure the drift velocity vs. drift field of spin-polarized electrons and use this electronic control to change the transit time between electron injection and detection. A measurement of normalized magnetocurrent as a function of drift velocity is used with a simple exponential-decay model to argue that the lifetime obtained (~2 ns) is artificially lowered by electronic effects and is likely orders of magnitude higher.
We experimentally show evidence for the presence of spin accumulation in localized states at ferromagnet-silicon interfaces, detected by electrical Hanle effect measurements in CoFe/$n^{+}$-Si/$n$-Si lateral devices. By controlling the measurement temperature, we can clearly observe marked changes in the spin-accumulation signals at low temperatures, at which the electron transport across the interface changes from the direct tunneling to the two-step one via the localized states. We discuss in detail the difference in the spin accumulation between in the Si channel and in the localized states.
We report electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements on a large-area silicon MOSFET. An ESR signal at g-factor 1.9999(1), and with a linewidth of 0.6 G, is observed and found to arise from two-dimensional (2D) electrons at the Si/SiO2 interface. The signal and its intensity show a pronounced dependence on applied gate voltage. At gate voltages below the threshold of the MOSFET, the signal is from weakly confined, isolated electrons as evidenced by the Curie-like temperature dependence of its intensity. The situation above threshold appears more complicated. These large-area MOSFETs provide the capability to controllably tune from insulating to conducting regimes by adjusting the gate voltage while monitoring the state of the 2D electron spins spectroscopically.
High-frequency pulse electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) were used to clarify the electronic structure of the color centers with an optically induced high-temperature spin-3/2 alignment in hexagonal 4H-, 6H- and rhombic 15R- silicon carbide (SiC) polytypes. The identification is based on resolved ligand hyperfine interactions with carbon and silicon nearest, next nearest and the more distant neighbors and on the determination of the spin state. The ground state and the excited state were demonstrated to have spin S = 3/2. The microscopic model suggested from the EPR and ENDOR results is as follows: a paramagnetic negatively charged silicon vacancy that is noncovalently bonded to a non-paramagnetic neutral carbon vacancy, located on the adjacent site along the SiC symmetry c-axis.
In this paper, we apply the first-principle theory to explore how the electronic structures of armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) are affected by chemical modifications. The edge addends include H, F, N, NH$_{2}$, and NO$_{2}$. Our theoretical results show that the energy gaps are highly tunable by controlling the widths of AGNRs and addends. The most interesting finding is that N-passivated AGNRs with various widths are metallic due to the unique electronic features of N-N bonds. This property change of AGNRs (from semiconducting to metallic) is important in developing graphene-based devices.
A longitudinal electric field is used to control the transit time (through an undoped silicon vertical channel) of spin-polarized electrons precessing in a perpendicular magnetic field. Since an applied voltage determines the final spin direction at the spin detector and hence the output collector current, this comprises a spin field-effect transistor. An improved hot-electron spin injector providing ~115% magnetocurrent, corresponding to at least ~38% electron current spin polarization after transport through 10 microns undoped single-crystal silicon, is used for maximum current modulation.