18
1 An Overview of Spintronics
Fig. 1.3 Material-based
spintronic division
Spintronics
[Based on
Materials]
Metallic
Spintronics
Semiconductor
Spintronics
Molecular
Spintronics
magnetic field sensor. Depending on construction, two kinds of GMR could be realized in devices: (1) current-in-plane (CIP), in which electric current flows parallel
to the layers, and (2) current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP), in which electric current
flows perpendicular to the layers.
Semiconductor spintronics
Whereas the above narration of spintronics is that of metallic spintronics, spintronics
using inorganic semiconductors has also been potentially explored. Materials investigated for this purpose are GaAs, Si and many more diluted magnetic (ferromagnetic)
semiconductor materials. Among these inorganic semiconductors, GaAs exhibits
strong spin–orbit interaction. Applied gate voltage is competent to rotate the injected
spins in GaAs and be used to realize spin transistors as proposed by Das and Datta.
However, spin MOS field effect transistors (FETs) are likely to be realized in Si
as it is a light element and possesses lattice inversion symmetry. Of late, several
research groups are investigating spin injection and spin transport rigorously. This
field is acknowledged as the second pillar of spintronics, namely, semiconductor
spintronics (Holub et al. 2007).
Molecular spintronics
Since 1999, molecular spintronics, a promising branch of spintronics, catches the
attention of the people in spintronics and in molecular electronics, that is, molecular spintronics. Molecular spintronics is considered to be a promising research
direction in a field of spintronics, next to metallic spintronics and inorganic semiconductor spintronics. It has been observed that a molecule shows a comparably
lesser spin–orbit interaction. A spin–orbit interaction is responsible for loss of spin
coherence. Therefore, realization of quantum computation needs materials having a
smaller spin–orbit interaction and a so-called Sugahara-Tanaka-type spin MOSFETs
(Matsuno et al. 2004). Recently, widespread research has been started in nanocarbonaceous molecules (graphene, carbon nanotube and fullerene) and organic
molecules for the advancement in this research field.
1 An Overview of Spintronics
Fig. 1.3 Material-based
spintronic division
Spintronics
[Based on
Materials]
Metallic
Spintronics
Semiconductor
Spintronics
Molecular
Spintronics
magnetic field sensor. Depending on construction, two kinds of GMR could be realized in devices: (1) current-in-plane (CIP), in which electric current flows parallel
to the layers, and (2) current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP), in which electric current
flows perpendicular to the layers.
Semiconductor spintronics
Whereas the above narration of spintronics is that of metallic spintronics, spintronics
using inorganic semiconductors has also been potentially explored. Materials investigated for this purpose are GaAs, Si and many more diluted magnetic (ferromagnetic)
semiconductor materials. Among these inorganic semiconductors, GaAs exhibits
strong spin–orbit interaction. Applied gate voltage is competent to rotate the injected
spins in GaAs and be used to realize spin transistors as proposed by Das and Datta.
However, spin MOS field effect transistors (FETs) are likely to be realized in Si
as it is a light element and possesses lattice inversion symmetry. Of late, several
research groups are investigating spin injection and spin transport rigorously. This
field is acknowledged as the second pillar of spintronics, namely, semiconductor
spintronics (Holub et al. 2007).
Molecular spintronics
Since 1999, molecular spintronics, a promising branch of spintronics, catches the
attention of the people in spintronics and in molecular electronics, that is, molecular spintronics. Molecular spintronics is considered to be a promising research
direction in a field of spintronics, next to metallic spintronics and inorganic semiconductor spintronics. It has been observed that a molecule shows a comparably
lesser spin–orbit interaction. A spin–orbit interaction is responsible for loss of spin
coherence. Therefore, realization of quantum computation needs materials having a
smaller spin–orbit interaction and a so-called Sugahara-Tanaka-type spin MOSFETs
(Matsuno et al. 2004). Recently, widespread research has been started in nanocarbonaceous molecules (graphene, carbon nanotube and fullerene) and organic
molecules for the advancement in this research field.