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Non-volatile ferroelectric control of ferromagnetism in (Ga,Mn)As

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 464–467 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Multiferroic structures that provide coupled ferroelectric and ferromagnetic responses are of significant interest as they may be used in novel memory devices and spintronic logic elements1,2,3,4. One approach towards this goal is the use of composites that couple ferromagnetic and ferroelectric layers through magnetostrictive and piezoelectric strain transmitted across the interfaces5,6,7. However, mechanical clamping of the films to the substrate limits their response1,8. Structures where the magnetic response is modulated directly by the electric field of the poled ferroelectric would eliminate this constraint and provide a qualitatively higher level of integration, combining the emerging field of multiferroics with conventional semiconductor microelectronics. Here, we report the realization of such a device using (Ga,Mn)As, which is an archetypical diluted magnetic semiconductor with well-understood carrier-mediated ferromagnetism, and a polymer ferroelectric gate. Polarization reversal of the gate by a single voltage pulse results in a persistent modulation of the Curie temperature of the ferromagnetic semiconductor. The non-volatile gating of (Ga,Mn)As has been made possible by applying a low-temperature copolymer deposition technique that is distinct from pre-existing technologies for ferroelectric gates on magnetic oxides. This accomplishment opens a way to nanometre-scale modulation of magnetic semiconductor properties with rewritable ferroelectric domain patterns, operating at modest voltages and subnanosecond times.

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Figure 1: Schematic longitudinal cross-section of the Hall bar based on film I.
Figure 2: Ferroelectric gate operation and temperature dependence of the sheet resistance for film I.
Figure 3: Control of ferromagnetism through ferroelectric switching: determination of the ferromagnetic TC change by Arrott plots for film I.
Figure 4: Control of ferromagnetism through ferroelectric switching: change of hysteretic properties by poling ferroelectric gate.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from the Swiss National Science Foundation; Swiss Program on NanoSciences (NCCR); EU Grant IST-015728, UK Grant GR/S81407/01; CR Grants FON/06/E002, AV0Z1010052, KAN400100652 and LC510; US NRI Grant SWAN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ceramics Laboratory, EPFL-Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland

    I. Stolichnov, S. W. E. Riester, H. J. Trodahl & N. Setter

  2. MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

    H. J. Trodahl

  3. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

    A. W. Rushforth, K. W. Edmonds, R. P. Campion, C. T. Foxon, B. L. Gallagher & T. Jungwirth

  4. Institute of Physics ASCR v.v.i., Cukrovarnická 10, 162 53 Praha 6, Czech Republic

    T. Jungwirth

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  1. I. Stolichnov
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Correspondence to I. Stolichnov.

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Stolichnov, I., Riester, S., Trodahl, H. et al. Non-volatile ferroelectric control of ferromagnetism in (Ga,Mn)As. Nature Mater 7, 464–467 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2185

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