Spintronics is an emerging technology exploiting the spin degree of freedom and has proved to be very promising for new types of fast electronic devices. Amongst the anticipated advantages of spintronics technologies, researchers have identified the non-volatile storage of data with high density and low energy consumption as particularly relevant. This monograph examines the concept of half-metallic compounds perspectives to obtain novel solutions and discusses several oxides such as perovskites, double perovskites and CrO2 as well as Heusler compounds. Such materials can be designed and made with high spin polarization and, especially in the case of Heusler compounds, many material-related problems present in current-day 3d metal systems, can be overcome. Spintronics: From Materials to Devices provides an insight into the current research on Heusler compounds and offers a general understanding of structure–property relationships, including the influence of disorder and correlations on the electronic structure and interfaces. Spintronics devices such as magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) devices, with current perpendicular to the plane, in which Co2 based Heusler compounds are used as new electrode materials, are also introduced. From materials design by theoretical methods and the preparation and properties of the materials to the production of thin films and devices, this monograph represents a valuable guide to both novices and experts in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, and Materials Science.

This book gives an overview of the physics of Heusler compounds ranging from fundamental properties of these alloys to their applications. Especially Heusler compounds as half-metallic ferromagnetic and topological insulators are important in condensed matter science due to their potential in magnetism and as materials for energy conversion. The book is written by world-leaders in this field. It offers an ideal reference to researchers at any level.

Smart thin films, composed of functional materials deposited in thin layers, have opened new avenues for the development of flexible, lightweight, and high-performance devices. Optoelectronics and Spintronics in Smart Thin Films presents a comprehensive overview of this emerging area and details the current and near future integration of smart thin films in solar cells, and memory storage. Offers an overview of optoelectronics and spintronics. Discusses synthesis of smart nanomaterials. Describes deposition techniques and characterization of thin films. Considers the integration and application of opto-spintronics for technological advancement of solar cells and memory storage devices. Focused on advancing research on this evolving subject, this book is aimed at advanced students, researchers, and engineers in materials, chemical, mechanical, and electrical engineering, as well as applied physics.

Over two volumes and 1500 pages, the Handbook of Spintronics will cover all aspects of spintronics science and technology, including fundamental physics, materials properties and processing, established and emerging device technology and applications. Comprising 60 chapters from a large international team of leading researchers across academia and industry, the Handbook provides readers with an up-to-date and comprehensive review of this dynamic field of research. The opening chapters focus on the fundamental physical principles of spintronics in metals and semiconductors, including an introduction to spin quantum computing. Materials systems are then considered, with sections on metallic thin films and multilayers, magnetic tunnelling structures, hybrids, magnetic semiconductors and molecular spintronic materials. A separate section reviews the various characterisation methods appropriate to spintronics materials, including STM, spin-polarised photoemission, x-ray diffraction techniques and spin-polarised SEM. The third part of the Handbook contains chapters on the state of the art in device technology and applications, including spin valves, GMR and MTJ devices, MRAM technology, spin transistors and spin logic devices, spin torque devices, spin pumping and spin dynamics and other topics such as spin caloritronics. Each chapter considers the challenges faced by researchers in that area and contains some indications of the direction that future work in the field is likely to take. This reference work will be an essential and long-standing resource for the spintronics community.

Spintronic-based magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) implementing the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) effect has various advantages over conventional semiconductor base memory devices, such as non-volatility and potentially high density and scalability. Traditional MRAM design implemented in-plane magnetic switching for the read/write operation which is now recognized to suffer from poor scalability below 60 nm. With the discovery of the spin-transfer torque (STT) effect, where the spin-polarized current is used to switch the ferromagnet, the MRAM design simplified considerably as it eliminated one of the two current-carrying wires that are used to generate the magnetic field required for switching. The thermal stability is further enhanced by using magnetic materials with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). In current devices, perpendicular anisotropy is developed at the free magnetic layer (CoFeB) interface with the tunnel barrier (MgO). It is called interfacial-perpendicular anisotropy. However, it has been shown that this design has scaling issues below 20 nm. Materials with volume (bulk) perpendicular magnetic anisotropy should show better scaling without compromising on thermal stability. This dissertation work is focused on growth and physical property investigations of thin films of novel magnetic and electronic materials which are promising for MRAM devices. Leveraging on prior identified materials (both theory and bulk materials experiment) with tetragonal and hexagonal symmetry that support PMA, we have successfully implemented several manganese-based hexagonal Heusler-like Mn3-xFexSn (X=0,1,2) alloys predicted to be high PMA materials. While Mn3Sn thin films are reported in the literature, we are not aware of any thin film reports elsewhere on Fe2MnSn and Mn2FeSn thin films discussed here. All these materials are stabilized in the hexagonal structure which inherently supports perpendicular anisotropy. Specifically, we found that Mn3Sn has low saturation magnetization and high Tc but low magnetic anisotropy. Mn2FeSn has a moderate magnetic moment but low Tc (272 K). Fe2MnSn is the most favorable material among our investigations, with high magnetic anisotropy and high Curie temperature of 548 K, but with a higher than desired magnetization value. The magnetic anisotropy value of Fe2MnSn is estimated to be 0.56 MJ/m3. Such value is in the desirable range for MRAM devices. Our thermal stability calculations indicate that STT-MRAM with Fe2MnSn free layer can scale below 20 nm lateral size for 3nm free layer thickness. While the scaling behavior remains to be investigated experimentally, my work has demonstrated that research into new materials is always an exciting prospect particularly if combined with a theory-driven design approach.

As we all know, electrons carry both charge and spin. The processing of information in conventional electronic devices is based only on the charge of electrons. Spin electronics, or spintronics, uses the spin of electrons, as well as their charge, to process information. Metals, semiconductors, and insulators are the basic materials that constitute the components of electronic devices, and these types of materials have been transforming all aspects of society for over a century. In contrast, magnetic metals, half-metals (including zero-gap half-metals), magnetic semiconductors (including spin-gapless semiconductors), dilute magnetic semiconductors, and magnetic insulators are the materials that will form the basis for spintronic devices. This book aims to collect a range of papers on novel materials that have intriguing physical properties and numerous potential practical applications in spintronics.

Starting from quantum mechanical and condensed matter foundations, this book introduces into the necessary theory behind spin electronics (Spintronics). Equations of spin diffusion, -evolution and -tunelling are provided before an overview is given of simulation of spin transport at the atomic scale. Furthermore, applications are discussed with a focus on elementary spintronics devices such as spin valves, memory cells and hard disk heads.

Since the first usage of magnets as navigation tools, magnetism has been an integral part of human technology. As such, with increased demand for more sophisticated technologies, the need to understand magnetism and its applications has also increased. In modern times, the focus of new technologies is on scalability, or how things behave on the smallest scales. To this end it is necessary to understand the fundamental and practical behaviors of magnetic materials at this limit. Recent discoveries in the field of true 2D magnets and the field of topological matter demands investigation of the intersection between these two fields. In the first part of this work a theoretical analysis of the topological behavior of magnon bands in CrI3-like magnetic heterostructures is carried out. This analysis revealed a rich topological phase space wherein topological phase boundaries correspond to abrupt jumps in the thermal Hall conductance of the system, reminiscent of the quantum anomalous Hall effect. Additionally these systems showed distinct and repeating features between heterostructures with an even number of layers and those with an odd number of layers, making it theoretically possible to distinguish between the two based on the behavior of the thermal Hall conductance. Additional work was done on applications of magnetic thin film toward the field of spintronics. Spin-based magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) has a particular advantage over current electronic technology in its intrinsic non-volatility. Additionally, current MRAM devices that use spin-transfer torque can be improved by finding materials with high intrinsic perpendicular magnetic anisotropy which do not rely on interfacial-perpendicular anisotropy. To this end an investigation of the substrate dependent crystallinity of the Heusler alloy Fe2MnSn was performed using in-plane x-ray diffraction. By studying how the growth and orientation of the Bragg peaks ((200) and (002)) that correspond to the primary crystal axes, (a-b axes and c axis, respectively) it was determined that lattice matching and substrate play a large role in the formation of crystal plane orientations, potentially shining light on how these growth modes can influence the magnetic anisotropy of the films.

Few books exist that cover the hot field of second-generation spintronic devices, despite their potential to revolutionize the IT industry.Compiling the obstacles and progress of spin-controlled devices into one source, Spintronic Materials and Technology presents an in-depth examination of the most recent technological spintronic developmen