Theory of digital magneto resistance in ferromagnetic resonant tunneling diodes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a theoretical model for a ferromagnetic resonant tunneling diode system that exhibits digital magneto resistance, controllable via magnetization orientation, enabling tunable electronic properties.

Contribution

It presents a selfconsistent coherent transport model for a ferromagnetic diode system, demonstrating controllable resistance states through magnetization orientation.

Findings

Current-voltage characteristics can be modulated by magnetization orientation.

Digital magneto resistance manifests as a discrete resistance jump.

The system's I-V behavior can be tailored from ohmic to negative differential resistance.

Abstract

We propose a ferromagnetic spintronic system, which consists of two serial connected resonant tunneling diodes. One diode is nonmagnetic whereas the other comprises a ferromagnetic emitter and quantum well. Using a selfconsistent coherent transport model we show that the current-voltage characteristic of the ferromagnetic diode can be strongly modulated by changing the relative orientation of the magnetizations in the emitter and quantum well, respectively. By a continuous change of the relative magnetization angle the total resistance exhibits a discrete jump realizing digital magneto resistance. The interplay between the emitter's Fermi energy level and the relative magnetization orientations allows to tailor the current voltage characteristics of the ferromagnetic diode from ohmic to negative differential resistance regime at low voltages.