Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:04:37.605Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sixteen resistive states of a tunnel junction with a composite barrier

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2010

L. B. Zhang
Affiliation:
Faculty of Materials, Optoelectronics and Physics, Xiangtan University, Hunan, 411105, P.R. China Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials and Application Technology, Xiangtan University, Ministry of Education, Xiangtan, Hunan, 411105, P.R. China
M. H. Tang*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Materials, Optoelectronics and Physics, Xiangtan University, Hunan, 411105, P.R. China Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials and Application Technology, Xiangtan University, Ministry of Education, Xiangtan, Hunan, 411105, P.R. China
F. Yang
Affiliation:
Faculty of Materials, Optoelectronics and Physics, Xiangtan University, Hunan, 411105, P.R. China Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials and Application Technology, Xiangtan University, Ministry of Education, Xiangtan, Hunan, 411105, P.R. China
Get access

Abstract

A new model for a tunnel junction with a ferroelectric-ferromagnetic-ferroelectric composite barrier and two magnetic electrodes is evaluated. By reversing the electric polarisation in the ferroelectric layers and the magnetisation in the electrodes independently or simultaneously, sixteen distinct resistive states are obtained successfully. The tunnelling electroresistance ratio, the spin-filtering ratio and the conductance as functions of the barrier thickness, the exchange splitting and the electric polarisation are also investigated in detail. Compared with conventional tunnel junctions, our theoretical model presents more resistive states that potentially may lead to a tremendous increase in multivalue logic state storage in next generation memory cells.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gajek, M., Bibes, M., Barthélémy, A., Bouzehouane, K., Fusil, S., Varela, M., Fontcuberta, J., Fert, A., Phys. Rev. B 72, 020406(R) (2005) CrossRef
Velev, J.P., Duan, C.G., Burton, J.D., Smogunov, A., Niranjan, M.K., Tosatti, E., Jaswal, S.S., Tsymbal, E.Y., Nano. Lett. 9, 427 (2009) CrossRef
Jin, D.F., Ren, Y., Li, Z.Z., Xiao, M.W., Jin, G.J., Hu, A., Phys. Rev. B 73, 012414 (2006) CrossRef
Zhuravlev, M.Y., Sabirianov, R.F., Jaswal, S.S., Tsymbal, E.Y., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 246802 (2005) CrossRef
Tsymbal, E.Y., Kohlstedt, H., Science 313, 181 (2006) CrossRef
Zhuravlev, M.Y., Jaswal, S.S., Tsymbal, E.Y., Sabirianov, R.F., Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 222114 (2005) CrossRef
Zhuravlev, M.Y., Wang, Y., Maekawa, S., Tsymbal, E.Y., Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 052902 (2009) CrossRef
Scott, J.F., Nat. Mater. 6, 256 (2007) CrossRef
M. Gajek, M. Bibes, M. Varela, J. Fontcuberta, G. Herranz, S. Fusil, K. Bouzehouane, A. Barthélémy, A. Fert, J. Appl. Phys. 99, 08E504 (2006)
Gajek, M., Bibes, M., Fusil, S., Bouzehouane, K., Fontcuberta, J., Barthélémy, A., Fert, A., Nat. Mater. 6, 296 (2007) CrossRef
Yang, F., Zhou, Y.C., Tang, M.H., Liu, F., Ma, Y., Zheng, X.J., Zhao, W.F., Xu, H.Y., Sun, Z.H., J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 42, 072004 (2009) CrossRef
Wang, J., Ju, S., Li, Z.Y., J. Appl. Phys. 105, 093920 (2009) CrossRef
Yang, F., Tang, M.H., Ye, Z., Zhou, Y.C., Zheng, X.J., Tang, J.X., Zhang, J.J., He, J., J. Appl. Phys. 102, 044504 (2007) CrossRef
Bibes, M., Barthélémy, A., Nat. Mater. 7, 425 (2008) CrossRef
Mathur, N., Nature 454, 591 (2008) CrossRef
Eerenstein, W., Mathur, N.D., Scott, J.F., Nature 442, 759 (2006) CrossRef
Spaldin, N.A., Fiebig, M., Science 309, 391 (2005) CrossRefPubMed
Wang, J., Li, Z.Y., Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 112501 (2008) CrossRef
Fong, D.D., Stephenson, G.B., Streiffer, S.K., Eastman, J.A., Auciello, O., Fuoss, P.H., Thompson, C., Science 304, 1650 (2004) CrossRef
Fong, D.D., Kolpak, A.M., Eastman, J.A., Streiffer, S.K., Fuoss, P.H., Stephenson, G.B., Thompson, C., Kim, D.M., Choi, K.J., Eom, C.B., Grinberg, I., Rappe, A.M., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 127601 (2006) CrossRef
C.B. Duke, Tunnelling in Solids, 1st edn. (Academic Press, New York, 1969)
Contreras, J.R., Kohlstedt, H., Poppe, U., Waser, R., Buchal, C., Pertsev, N.A., Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 4595 (2003) CrossRef
Ju, S., Cai, T.Y., Guo, G.Y., Li, Z.Y., Phys. Rev. B 75, 064419 (2007) CrossRef
G.A. Samara, in Solid State Physics, edited by H. Ehrenreich, F. Spaepen (Academic Press, San Diego, 2001), Vol. 56, p. 239