Tunnel Magnetoresistance of a Single-Molecule Junction

TL;DR

This paper investigates the spin-dependent electron transport in a single-molecule junction with ferromagnetic electrodes, demonstrating tunable tunnel magnetoresistance exceeding 60% based on NEGF and Landauer-Büttiker theories.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical model for a molecular spin-electronic device using a C60 molecule and analyzes how TMR depends on voltage and contact points.

Findings

TMR can exceed 60% with parameter adjustments.

TMR depends on applied voltages and contact configurations.

The study uses NEGF and Landauer-Büttiker formalisms for analysis.

Abstract

Based on the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) technique and the Landauer-B\"{u}ttiker theory, the possibility of a molecular spin-electronic device, which consists of a single C$_{60}$ molecule attached to two ferromagnetic electrodes with finite cross sections, is investigated. By studying the coherent spin-dependent transport through the energy levels of the molecule, it is shown that the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of the molecular junction depends on the applied voltages and the number of contact points between the device electrodes and the molecule. The TMR values more than 60% are obtained by adjusting the related parameters.