Fabrication of high-quality heterostructures with half-metallic ferromagnets and creation of spin tunneling devices

Heusler合金薄膜由于其潜在的半金属性质而具有高的自旋极化特性，因此有望作为铁磁电极材料。高质量的Heusler合金薄膜异质结被开发用于器件应用。考虑到这些异质结构，磁隧道结具有很好的器件特性。此外，在Heusler合金Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al电极和MgO势垒的全外延磁性隧道结中，发现了与自旋相关的隧道电阻随势垒厚度变化的巨型振荡。

Heusler alloy thin films are promising as ferromagnetic electrode materials because they feature high spin polarization arising from their potentially half-metallic nature. High-quality heterostructures with Heusler alloy thin films were developed for device applications. Given these heterostructures, excellent devices characteristics were demonstrated for magnetic tunnel junctions. Furthermore, giant oscillations in spin-dependent tunneling resistances as a function of barrier thickness were found for fully epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions with Heusler alloy Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al electrodes and a MgO barrier.