Ferromagnetic metal/semiconductor hybrid structures for magnetoelectronics

We report on the following new ferromagnetic metal/semiconductor heterostru cture material systems: (1) Fe/InAs(100)-4 x 2, (2) Fe/InAs(graded)/GaAs(10 0), and (3) Fe/InAs/AlSb/GaSb/AlSb/InAs/GaAs resonant tunneling diodes. Sin gle crystal Fe films have been stabilized in these structures using molecul ar beam epitaxy growth, as evidenced by low energy electron diffraction. Th e magnetic and electrical properties have been studied using in situ (and f ocused) magneto-optical Kerr effect, alternating gradient field magnetometr y, and current-voltage measurements. The results show that Fe/InAs based he terostructures are very promising systems for use in future magnetoelectron ic devices as they have well defined magnetic properties as well as favorab le electrical properties. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-89 79(99)79108-5].