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Giant Planar Hall Effect In Ferromagnetic Semiconductors

Technology Benefits: Relative to ferromagnetic metals, ferromagnetic semiconductors: enable one to realize devices that have no analogs among ferromagnetic metal devices; offer better performance (e.g. enhanced magnetic switching); and are more compatible with existing semiconductor technologies, notably in regards to the level of control and spatial resolution associated with contemporary nanofabrication and epitaxial growth methods. This invention has the further advantage that the magnitude of the GPHE is generally size-independent down to the submicron scale. Thus, for applications involving nanostructures, the sensitivity of this invention is comparable to SQUID-based techniques. Accordingly, this technology is uniquely well suited to studies of the dynamics and magnetoresistance of individual magnetic domain walls in spintronic systems. PATENT APPLICATION: U.S. patent application 602,537, filed June 23, 2003.

Technology Application: Spintronic applications that might benefit from GPHE ferromagnetic semiconductor materials include: high-density, non-volatile information storage; enhanced magnetic microswitches; quantum computer microprocessors; and devices for facilitating spintronics development, especially for measurement of domain wall phenomena.

Detailed Technology Description: Researchers at the University of California and the California Institute of Technology have invented (Ga,Mn)As-based ferromagnetic semiconductor materials that exhibit the giant planar Hall effect (GPHE). In GPHE, the localized alignment of electron spins causes a change in resistance. With this invention, the GPHE-induced resistance change in multiterminal, micron-scale structures can be as large as ~100 Ω, about four orders of magnitude higher than the analogous resistances previously observed in metallic ferromagnets. This invention has sufficient resolution to allow real-time observations of the nucleation and field-induced propagation of individual magnetic domain walls, which is of prime importance for future spintronics development. Such a pronounced GPHE also has important implications for the improvement of magnetic switching and other spintronic functions.

Supplementary Information: Patent Number: US6879012B2
Application Number: US2003602537A
Inventor: Tang, Hongxing | Roukes, Michael L. | Kawakami, Roland K. | Awschalom, David D.
Priority Date: 21 Jun 2002
Priority Number: US6879012B2
Application Date: 23 Jun 2003
Publication Date: 12 Apr 2005
IPC Current: G01R003307 | H01L002982 | H01L004306
US Class: 257421 | 257048 | 257425 | 257427 | 257609 | 257615 | 257E43003
Assignee Applicant: The Regents of the University of California | California Institute of Technology,Pasadena
Title: Giant planar hall effect in epitaxial ferromagnetic semiconductor devices
Usefulness: Giant planar hall effect in epitaxial ferromagnetic semiconductor devices
Summary: For read head sensors used in hard disk drives and other magnetic storage devices.
Novelty: Pressure sensor for hard disk drive, utilizes ferromagnetic semiconductor Hall bar gage structure that produces pressure sensing signals in response to deflection of membrane

Industry: Electronics

Sub Category: Semiconductor

Application No.: 6879012

Others: Tech ID/UC Case
10280/2004-034-0

Related Cases
2004-034-0

*Abstract: While traditional electronic devices exploit the charge of an electron for storing and processing information, in recent years there has been increasing interest in devices that exploit the spin of an electron, giving rise to the new field of “spintronics.” Because of the large number of spin states available to an individual electron, spintronics promises to greatly increase the density of information that can be stored and processed in a given volume and mass of material as compared to conventional charge-based electronics. Also, information transfer in the form of spin polarization currents generates much less heat than is the case for an equivalent electrical current, so spintronics might also overcome the thermal limits that are impeding further shrinkage of processor chips.

Spintronic devices employing ferromagnetic metals have already resulted in dramatic improvements in the storage capacity of computer hard drives. However, ferromagnetic semiconductor materials are thought to hold the key to the future development of spintronics, since such materials offer the prospect of realizing devices that have no metallic analogs and that would ultimately displace many types of conventional electronic chips (e.g. sensors, random access memory, transistors) and perhaps make possible entirely new functions such as quantum computing.

*IP Issue Date: Apr 12, 2005

*Principal Investigator: Name: David Awschalom
Department:

Name: Roland Kawakami
Department:

Name: Michael Roukes
Department:

Name: Hongxing Tang
Department:

Country/Region: USA

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