Department of Information Technology, Hong Kong Institute of Technology, Hong Kong.
Nanotechnology. 2011 Feb 25;22(8):085202. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/22/8/085202. Epub 2011 Jan 17.
A simple model is developed to investigate the potential profile changes due to mechanical stress at the ferromagnetic/ferroelectric interfaces of ferromagnetic-ferroelectric-ferromagnetic tunnel junctions with an ultrathin ferroelectric barrier. The potential changes associated with the polarization variation have significant effects on the tunneling conductance of the junctions. The discovered effect is illustrated by the example of a multiferroic tunnel junction in which approximately four orders of changes of the tunneling conductance and several-fold changes of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) are observed due to the spin-flip induced nanomechanical stress. The TMR modulation effect is essential for realization of novel spintronics nano-devices as well as being useful for investigating fundamental aspects of the spin transfer.
本文建立了一个简单的模型，用以研究铁磁-铁电-铁磁隧道结中铁电势垒极薄时，铁磁/铁电界面处机械应力导致的势垒变化的潜在情况。与极化变化相关的势垒变化对结的隧穿电导有显著影响。通过一个多铁隧道结的例子说明了这个发现的效果，由于自旋翻转诱导的纳米机械应力，这个多铁隧道结的隧穿电导变化了大约四个数量级，隧穿磁电阻（TMR）变化了几倍。TMR 调制效应对于实现新型的自旋电子学纳米器件是至关重要的，同时也有助于研究自旋转移的基本方面。
