Spin polarized tunneling in half‐metallic ferromagnets (abstract)

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Abstract
We present a study of spin polarized tunneling in tunnel junctions in which one of the conducting layers is a half‐metallic ferromagnet (HMF). HMF are unique in that the Fermi level of these materials intersect the majority spin electron band, while the minority band has an energy gap near the Fermi level. Hence, HMF simultaneously have both metallic and semiconducting characteristics, and theory predicts that the conduction electrons are 100% spin polarized. As a result, the magnetoresistance in magnetic multilayers or trilayer tunnel junctions is expected to be significantly higher than with conventional ferromagnetic materials. Two important parameters affecting the performance of these junctions are the smoothness of the HMF surface and its surface composition. Tunnel junctions consisting of a layer of NiMnSb, a barrier layer of Al2O3, and a layer of aluminum were prepared and studied for their tunneling properties. Surface analysis of HMF films was done using Auger depth profiling and AFM.

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