Electron Spin Effects in Semiconductor Nanostructures

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT**** There is currently an intense worldwide movement in contemporary electronics to explore the role of the electron spin, a quantum mechanical magnetic property of the electron, - in addition to the electron's charge - with an eye on increasing the functionality of electronic microchip devices, particularly in the realm of computation. This award supports a project to address the issue by employing state-of-the-art techniques to fabricate and characterize a series of novel semiconductor nano-scale structures in which the role of the electron spin is magnified by incorporating magnetic ions. By training graduate and undergraduate students in cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication techniques as well as in designing multi-functional materials, the project is expected to have a broad impact far beyond its immediate goals. Skills in these areas of materials science are in broad demand in U.S. Industry, National Laboratories, and Academia. Additionally, the Notre Dame team collaborates with many scientists (currently with more than thirty-five other institutions) either by providing research samples or by carrying out joint experiments. This activity of dissemination and sharing of results (which has the added benefit of exposing students to inter-institutional and inter-disciplinary collaborations) is expected to further expand as new spin-based electronic materials are developed in the course of the investigation. **** TECHNICAL ABSTRACT**** This grant supports a project that focuses on two new complementary areas involving spin phenomena in low dimensional magnetic semiconductor systems. First, by using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), dendritic nanowires based on magnetic semiconductors, including both II-Mn-VI and III-Mn-V alloys will be fabricated and studied. The second area will involve MBE growth and study of GaMnAs/Ge systems, a lattice-matched combination characterized by a special band alignment that is expected to lead to new spin effects and new insights both in multilayer and in nanowire geometries. The project is expected to have a broad impact far beyond its explicit scientific goals by contributing to the arsenal of spin-electronics materials generally; and by training graduate and undergraduate students in cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication techniques and in designing multi-functional materials, thus contributing to U.S. manpower skills in areas which are in wide demand in U.S. Industry, National Laboratories, and Academia. Additionally, the Notre Dame team already collaborates with many scientists (currently with more than thirty-five other institutions) either by providing research samples or by carrying out joint experiments. This activity of dissemination and sharing of results is expected to further intensify as new spin-electronic materials are developed during this investigation.