Collaborative Research: FuSe: Spin Gapless Semiconductors and Effective Spin Injection Design for Spin-Orbit Logic

非技术描述：通过纳米级半导体器件移动电子的电子技术已经改变了现代生活。自旋电子学将电子学与基本粒子的固有特性——自旋结合起来，使更小的设备以更高的速度运行，消耗更少的能量成为可能。因此，自旋电子学可以彻底改变数据处理、通信和存储方面的电子学。这个项目涵盖了新材料的设计和合成，以及先进自旋电子器件的制造和表征。该团队将合成定制设计的半导体合金，以便在自旋电子逻辑电路中更有效地读取数据。对自旋电子材料的结构-性能关系的基本理解将通过结构和材料性质的表征获得。总的来说，这个项目的结果有望成为如何制造高效自旋电子器件的信息。团队的劳动力发展计划以技术交流为中心主题。该方法旨在教育和发展教师，学生和未来的劳动力成为半导体行业的领导者。来自五所院校的本科生和研究生将接受培训，以更好地沟通和识别可转移的技能，使自己更适合半导体行业的雇主。这一培训将作为在技术交流领域推出具有综合行业认可证书的微型证书的蓝图，该项目将支持75名学生获得这一证书。针对大学生和K-12学生的宣传活动将提高对半导体行业就业的认识。这些活动将通过劳动力发展活动和行业伙伴关系得到加强。技术描述：自旋无间隙半导体（SGS）是一类新的自旋电子材料，其电子带结构中一个自旋电子的带隙有限，另一个自旋电子的带隙为零，这有利于自旋电子的应用。目前的SGS化合物经常表现出原子缺陷和无序，这是材料自旋极化和注入能力的关键因素。为了利用SGS作为高效自旋注入器的独特优势，这对于自旋逻辑器件（如磁电自旋轨道（MESO）逻辑）是必不可少的，该团队将Mn2CoAl作为平台，通过理解和操纵成分、处理和界面的影响，开发一种稳定近SGS行为的策略。这是一个材料-工艺-设备协同设计项目。在材料层面，该团队正在确定化学成分、相、原子顺序以及由此产生的电和磁输运性质之间的关系。在薄膜合成水平上，该团队正在使用溅射束外延进行低能量、外延质量的薄膜生长。从基础材料研究中获得的经验教训将用于通过成分和加工控制来避免有害缺陷。在器件层面，该团队正在将薄薄的SGS层纳米图型化为局部自旋注入结，用于MESO器件的自旋到电荷读出侧。总的来说，这项研究不仅将开发一种将SGS材料用于自旋电子器件的策略，而且还将加深目前对材料组成、加工和界面如何共同影响自旋注入器性能的理解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical Description:Modern life has been transformed by electronics based on moving electrons through nanoscale semiconductor devices. Spintronics combine electronics with spin, an intrinsic property of elementary particles, making possible even smaller devices that operate at higher speeds and consume less energy. Spintronics could thus revolutionize electronics for data processing, communication, and storage. This project spans design and synthesis of novel materials to fabrication and characterization of advanced spintronic devices. The team will synthesize custom-designed semiconducting alloys to read data more efficiently in a spintronic logic circuit. A fundamental understanding of the structural-performance relationship for spintronic materials will be gained through characterization of structure and materials properties. Collectively, the outcome of this project is expected to be information on how to manufacture a highly efficient spintronic device. The team’s workforce development plan has a central theme of technology communication. The approach seeks to educate and develop faculty, students, and the future workforce to be leaders in the semiconductor industry. Undergraduate and graduate students from five institutions will be trained to better communicate and identify transferable skills to make themselves marketable to semiconductor industry employers. This training will serve as a blueprint for the launch of a micro-credential in technology communication with integrated Industry-Recognized Credentials, and this project will support 75 students to receive this credential. Outreach events will target both undergraduate and K-12 audiences to raise awareness of jobs in the semiconductor industry. These activities will be reinforced by workforce development activities and industry partnerships. Technical Description:Spin gapless semiconductors (SGS) are a new class of spintronic materials that have a finite bandgap in their electronic band structure for electrons with one spin and a zero bandgap for electrons with the other spin, which is advantageous for spintronic applications. Current SGS compounds often display atomic defects and disordering, crucial elements for the material's spin polarization and injection capabilities. In order to harness the unique advantage of SGS as efficient spin injectors, which is indispensable for spin logic devices such as the magneto-electric spin-orbit (MESO) logic, the team is using Mn2CoAl as a platform to develop a strategy that stabilizes the near-SGS behavior through understanding and manipulation of influences from composition, processing, and interfaces. This is a collaborative material-process-device co-design project. At the materials level, the team is determining the relationship between chemical composition, phases, atomic ordering, and resultant electric and magnetic transport properties. On the thin film synthesis level, the team is performing low-energetic, epitaxial-quality film growth with sputter beam epitaxy. Lessons learned from the fundamental materials research will be used to avoid deleterious defects via composition and processing control. At the device level, the team is nanopatterning thin SGS layers into local spin injection junctions for the spin-to-charge readout side of the MESO device. Overall, this research will not only develop a strategy to use SGS materials for spintronic devices but also deepen current understanding on how materials composition, processing, and interfaces collectively impact the performance of a spin injector.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.