arXiv subjects

Shinobu Ohya

Publications and source records attributed to Shinobu Ohya.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Artificial control of the bias-voltage dependence of tunnelling anisotropic magnetoresistance using quantization in a single-crystal ferromagnet

A major issue in the development of spintronic memory devices is the reduction of the power consumption for the magnetization reversal. For this purpose, the artificial control of the magnetic anisotropy of ferromagnetic materials is of great importance. Here, we demonstrate the control of the carrier-energy dependence of the magnetic anisotropy of the density of states (DOS) using the quantum size effect in a single-crystal ferromagnetic material, GaMnAs. We show that the mainly two-fold symmetry of the magnetic anisotropy of DOS, which is attributed to the impurity band, is changed to a four-fold symmetry by enhancing the quantum size effect in the valence band of the GaMnAs quantum wells. By combination with the gate-electric field control technique, our concept of the usage of the quantum size effect for the control of the magnetism will pave the way for the ultra-low-power manipulation of magnetization in future spintronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Alternative interpretation of the recent experimental results of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on GaMnAs [Sci. Rep. 6, 27266 (2016)]

Clarification of the position of the Fermi level ($E_\mathrm{F}$) is important in understanding the origin of ferromagnetism in the prototypical ferromagnetic semiconductor Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As (GaMnAs). In a recent publication, Souma $et$ $al$. [Sci. Rep. $\mathbf{6}$, 27266 (2016)], have investigated the band structure and the $E_\mathrm{F}$ position of GaMnAs using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), and concluded that $E_\mathrm{F}$ is located in the valence band (VB). However, this conclusion contradicts a number of recent experimental results for GaMnAs, which showed that $E_\mathrm{F}$ is located above the VB maximum in the impurity band (IB). Here, we show an alternative interpretation of their ARPES experiments, which is consistent with those recent experiments and supports the picture that $E_\mathrm{F}$ is located above the VB maximum in the IB.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Spin-dependent transport and current modulation in a current-in-plane field-effect transistor

We propose a current-in-plane spin-valve field-effect transistor (CIP-SV-FET), which is composed of a ferromagnet / nonferromagnet / ferromagnet trilayer structure and a gate electrode. This is a promising device alternative to spin metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors. Here, we fabricate a ferromagnetic-semiconductor GaMnAs-based CIP-SV-FET and demonstrate its basic operation of the resistance modulation both by the magnetization configuration and by the gate electric field. Furthermore, we present the electric-field-assisted magnetization reversal in this device.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Tunneling magnetoresistance in trilayer structures composed of group-IV ferromagnetic semiconductor Ge1-xFex, MgO, and Fe

Group-IV-based ferromagnetic semiconductor Ge1-xFex (GeFe) is one of the most promising materials for efficient spin injectors and detectors for Si and Ge. Recent first principles calculations (Sakamoto et al., Ref. 9) suggested that the Fermi level is located in two overlapping largely spin-polarized bands formed in the bandgap of GeFe; spin-down d(e) band and spin-up p-d(t2) band. Thus, it is important to clarify how these bands contribute to spin injection and detection. In this study, we show the first successful observation of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) containing a group-IV ferromagnetic semiconductor, that is, in MTJs composed of epitaxially grown Fe/MgO/Ge0.935Fe0.065. We find that the p-d(t2) band in GeFe is mainly responsible for the tunneling transport. Although the obtained TMR ratio is small (0.3%), the TMR ratio is expected to be enhanced by suppressing leak current through amorphous-like crystal domains observed in MgO.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Origin of the large positive magnetoresistance in Ge1-xMnx granular thin films

GeMn granular thin films are a unique and promising material for spintronics applications due to large positive magnetoresistance (MR). Previous studies on GeMn have suggested that the large MR is related to nanospinodal decomposition of GeMn into Mn-rich ferromagnetic nanoparticles and Mn-poor paramagnetic matrix. However, its microscopic origin of the MR has not been clarified yet. Here, using X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), which is extremely sensitive to the local magnetic state of each atom, we investigate the magnetic properties of the nanoparticles and the matrix in GeMn separately. We find that the MR ratio is proportional to the product of the magnetizations originating from the nanoparticles and the matrix. This result indicates that spin-polarized holes in the nanoparticles penetrate into the matrix and that these holes undergo spin-disorder magnetic scattering by the paramagnetic Mn atoms in the matrix, which induces the large MR.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Electronic Structure of the Ferromagnetic Semiconductor Fe-doped Ge Revealed by Soft X-ray Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy

Ge$_{1-x}$Fe$_{x}$ (Ge:Fe) shows ferromagnetic behavior up to a relatively high temperature of 210 K, and hence is a promising material for spintronic applications compatible with Si technology. We have studied its electronic structure by soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SX-ARPES) measurements in order to elucidate the mechanism of the ferromagnetism. We observed finite Fe 3$d$ components in the states at the Fermi level ($E_{F}$) in a wide region in momentum space and $E_{F}$ was located above the valence-band maximum (VBM). First-principles supercell calculation also suggested that the $E_{F}$ is located above the VBM, within the narrow spin-down $d$($e$) band and within the spin-up impurity band of the deep acceptor-level origin derived from the strong $p$-$d$($t_{2}$) hybridization. We conclude that the narrow $d$($e$) band is responsible for the ferromagnetic coupling between Fe atoms while the acceptor-level-originated band is responsible for the transport properties of Ge:Fe.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Spin-dependent transport properties of a GaMnAs-based vertical spin metal-oxide- semiconductor field-effect transistor structure

We fabricate a vertical spin metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (spin-MOSFET) structure, which is composed of an epitaxial single-crystal heterostructure with a ferromagnetic-semiconductor GaMnAs source/drain, and investigate its spin-dependent transport properties. We modulate the drain-source current IDS by ~+ or -0.5 % with a gate-source voltage of + or -10.8 V and also modulate IDS by up to 60 % with changing the magnetization configuration of the GaMnAs source/drain at 3.5 K. The magnetoresistance ratio is more than two orders of magnitude higher than that obtained in the previous studies on spin MOSFETs. Our result shows that a vertical structure is one of the hopeful candidates for spin MOSFET when the device size is reduced to a sub-micron or nanometer scale.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Room temperature local ferromagnetism and nanoscale domain growth in the ferromagnetic semiconductor GeFe

We investigate the local electronic structure and magnetic properties of the group IV based ferromagnetic semiconductor, GeFe, using soft X ray magnetic circular dichroism. Our results show that the doped Fe 3d electrons are strongly hybridized with the Ge 4p states, and have an unusually large orbital magnetic moment relative to the spin magnetic moment; i.e., morb/mspin = 0.3. We find that local ferromagnetic domains, which are formed through ferromagnetic exchange interactions in the high Fe content regions of the GeFe films, exist at room temperature, well above the Curie temperature. We demonstrate the first observation of the intriguing nanoscale domain growth process in which ferromagnetic domains expand as the temperature decreases, followed by a transition of the entire film into a ferromagnetic state at the Curie temperature.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Properties of group-IV-based ferromagnetic semiconductor GeFe: Growth temperature dependence, lattice constant, location of Fe atoms, and their relevance to the magnetic properties

We report the growth temperature dependence of the properties of the group-IV-based ferromagnetic semiconductor Ge1-xFex films (x = 6.5% and 10.5%), including the lattice constant, Curie temperature (TC), and Fe-atom locations. While TC strongly depends on the growth temperature, we find a universal relationship between TC and the lattice constant, which does not depend on the Fe content x. By using the channeling Rutherford backscattering and particle-induced X-ray emission measurements, it is clarified that about 15% of the Fe atoms exist in the tetrahedral interstitial sites in the Ge0.935Fe0.065 lattice and that the substitutional Fe concentration is not correlated with TC. Considering these results, we suggest that the non-uniformity of the Fe concentration plays an important role in determining the ferromagnetic properties of GeFe.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Annealing-induced enhancement of ferromagnetism and nano-particle formation in ferromagnetic-semiconductor GeFe

We report the annealing-induced enhancement of ferromagnetism and nano-particle formation in group-IV-based ferromagnetic-semiconductor GeFe. We successfully increase the Curie temperature of the Ge0.895Fe0.105 film up to ~220 K while keeping a single ferromagnetic phase when the annealing temperature is lower than 500°C. In contrast, when annealed at 600°C, single-crystal GeFe nano-particles with stacking faults and twins, which have a high Curie temperature nearly up to room temperature, are formed in the film. Our results show that annealing is quite effective to improve the magnetic properties of GeFe for high-temperature-operating spin-injection devices based on Si or Ge.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Recent Progress in III-V based ferromagnetic semiconductors: Band structure, Fermi level, and tunneling transport

Spin-based electronics or spintronics is an emerging field, in which we try to utilize spin degrees of freedom as well as charge transport in materials and devices. While metal-based spin-devices, such as magnetic-field sensors and magnetoresistive random access memory using giant magnetoresistance and tunneling magnetoresistance, are already put to practical use, semiconductor-based spintronics has greater potential for expansion because of good compatibility with existing semiconductor technology. Many semiconductor-based spintronics devices with useful functionalities have been proposed and explored so far. To realize those devices and functionalities, we definitely need appropriate materials which have both the properties of semiconductors and ferromagnets. Ferromagnetic semiconductors (FMS), which are alloy semiconductors containing magnetic atoms such as Mn and Fe, are one of the most promising classes of materials for this purpose, and thus have been intensively studied for the past two decades. Here, we review the recent progress in the studies of the most prototypical III-V based FMS, p-type (GaMn)As, and its heterostructures with focus on tunneling transport, Fermi level, and bandstructure. Furthermore, we cover the properties of a new n-type FMS, (InFe)As, which shows electron-induced ferromagnetism. These FMS materials having zinc-blende crystal structure show excellent compatibility with well-developed III-V heterostructures and devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Sputtered TiN films for superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators

We present a systematic study of the properties of TiN films by varying the deposition conditions in an ultra-high-vacuum reactive magnetron sputtering chamber. By increasing the deposition pressure from 2 to 9 mTorr while keeping a nearly stoichiometric composition of Ti(1-x)N(x) (x=0.5), the film resistivity increases, the dominant crystal orientation changes from (100) to (111), grain boundaries become clearer, and the strong compressive strain changes to weak tensile strain. The TiN films absorb a high concentration of contaminants including hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen when they are exposed to air after deposition. With the target-substrate distance set to 88 mm the contaminant levels increase from ~0.1% to ~10% as the pressure is increased from 2 to 9 mTorr. The contaminant concentrations also correlate with in-plane distance from the center of the substrate and increase by roughly two orders of magnitude as the target-substrate distance is increased from 88 mm to 266 mm. These contaminants are found to strongly influence the properties of TiN films. For instance, the resistivity of stoichiometric films increases by around a factor of 5 as the oxygen content increases from 0.1% to 11%. These results suggest that the sputtered TiN particle energy is critical in determining the TiN film properties, and that it is important to control this energy to obtain high-quality TiN films. Superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators made from a series of nearly stoichiometric films grown at pressures from 2 mTorr to 7 mTorr show an increase in intrinsic quality factor from ~10^4 to ~10^6 as the magnitude of the compressive strain decreases from nearly 3800 MPa to approximately 150 MPa and the oxygen content increases from 0.1% to 8%. The films with a higher oxygen content exhibit lower loss, but the nonuniformity of the oxygen incorporation hinders the use of sputtered TiN in larger circuits.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Anomalous Fermi level behavior in GaMnAs at the onset of ferromagnetism

We present the systematic study of the resonant tunneling spectroscopy on a series of ferromagnetic-semiconductor Ga1-xMnxAs with the Mn content x from ~0.01 to 3.2%. The Fermi level of Ga1-xMnxAs exists in the band gap in the whole x region. The Fermi level is closest to the valence band (VB) at x=1.0% corresponding to the onset of ferromagnetism near the metal-insulator transition (MIT), but it moves away from the VB as x increasing or decreasing from 1.0%. This anomalous behavior of the Fermi level indicates that the ferromagnetism and MIT emerge in the Mn-derived impurity band.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Digging up bulk band dispersion buried under a passivation layer

Atomically controlled crystal growth of thin films has established foundations of nanotechnology aimed at the development of advanced functional devices. Crystallization under non-equilibrium conditions allows engineering of new materials with their atomically-flat interfaces in the heterostructures exhibiting novel physical properties. From a fundamental point of view, knowledge of the electronic structures of thin films and their interfaces is indispensable to understand the origins of their functionality which further evolves into realistic device application. In view of extreme surface sensitivity of the conventional vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), with a probing depth of several angstroms, experiments on thin films have to use sophisticated in-situ sample transfer systems to avoid surface contamination. In this Letter, we put forward a method to circumvent these difficulties using soft X-ray (SX) ARPES. A GaAs:Be thin film in our samples was protected by an amorphous As layer with an thickness of $\sim 1$ nm exceeding the probing depth of the VUV photoemission with photon energy $hν$ around 100 eV. The increase of the probing depth with increasing $hν$ towards the SX region has clearly exposed the bulk band dispersion without any surface treatment. Any contributions from potential interface states between the thin film and the amorphous capping layer has been below the detection limit. Our results demonstrate that SX-ARPES enables the observation of coherent three-dimensional band dispersion of buried heterostructure layers through an amorphous capping layer, breaking through the necessity of surface cleaning of thin film samples. Thereby, this opens new frontiers in diagnostics of authentic momentum-resolved electronic structure of protected thin-film heterostructures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Valence-band structure of ferromagnetic semiconductor (InGaMn)As

To clarify the whole picture of the valence-band structures of prototype ferromagnetic semiconductors (III,Mn)As (III: In and Ga), we perform systematic experiments of the resonant tunneling spectroscopy on [(In_0.53Ga_0.47)_1-x Mn_x]As (x=0.06-0.15) and In_0.87Mn_0.13As grown on AlAs/ In_0.53Ga_0.47As:Be/ p+InP(001). We show that the valence band of InGaMnAs almost remains unchanged from that of the host semiconductor InGaAs, that the Fermi level exists in the band gap, and that the p-d exchange splitting in the valence band is negligibly small in (InGaMn)As. In the In0.87Mn0.13As sample, although the resonant peaks are very weak due to the large strain induced by the lattice mismatch between InP and InMnAs, our results also indicate that the Fermi level exists in the band gap and that the p-d exchange splitting in the valence band is negligibly small. These results are quite similar to those of GaMnAs obtained by the same method, meaning that there are no holes in the valence band, and that the impurity-band holes dominate the transport and magnetism both in the InGaMnAs and In_0.87Mn_0.13As films. This band picture of (III,Mn)As is remarkably different from that of II-VI-based diluted magnetic semiconductors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Comment on "Reconciling results of tunnelling experiments on (Ga,Mn)As" arXiv:1102.3267v2 by Dietl and Sztenkiel

We comment on the recent paper "Reconciling results of tunnelling experiments on (Ga,Mn)As" arXiv:1102.3267v2 by Dietl and Sztenkiel. They claimed that the oscillations observed in the d2I/dV2-V characteristics in our studies on the resonant tunneling spectroscopy on GaMnAs, are not attributed to the resonant levels in the GaMnAs layer but to the two-dimensional interfacial subbands in the GaAs:Be layer. Here, we show that this interpretation is not able to explain our experimental results and our conclusions remain unchanged.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Universal valence-band picture of the ferromagnetic semiconductor GaMnAs

The origin of ferromagnetism in the prototype ferromagnetic semiconductor GaMnAs is still controversial due to the insufficient understanding of its band structure and Fermi level position. Here, we show the universal valence-band (VB) picture of GaMnAs obtained by resonant tunneling spectroscopy for a variety of surface GaMnAs layers with the Mn concentrations from 6 to 15% and the Curie temperatures from 71 to 154 K. We find that the Fermi level exists in the bandgap, and that the VB structure of GaAs is almost perfectly maintained in all the GaMnAs samples, i.e. VB is not merged with the impurity band. Furthermore, the p-d exchange splitting of VB is found to be quite small (only several meV) even in GaMnAs with a high Curie temperature (154 K). These results indicate that the VB structure of GaMnAs is quite insensitive to the Mn doping.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Quantum-level control in a III-V-based ferromagnetic-semiconductor heterostructure with a GaMnAs quantum well and double barriers

We investigate the spin-dependent tunneling properties in a three-terminal III-V-based ferromagnetic-semiconductor heterostructure with a 2.5-nm-thick GaMnAs quantum well (QW) and double barriers. We successfully control the quantum levels and modulate the spin-dependent current with varying the voltage of the electrode connected to the GaMnAs QW. Our results will open up a new possibility for realizing three-terminal spin resonant-tunneling devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗