磁电子学器件应用原理

NOTES ON SPINTRONIC DEVICES

本文介绍几种重要的磁电子器件的基本结构和工作原理,包括巨磁电阻与隧穿磁电阻传感器、巨磁电阻隔离器、巨磁电阻与隧穿磁电阻硬盘读出磁头、磁电阻随机存取存储器、自旋转移磁化反转与微波振荡器。自旋晶体管作为未来磁电子学或自旋电子学时代的基本元素,目前大都还处在概念型阶段,本文也将对几种自旋晶体管的大致原理作简要介绍。

In this article, a survey of the applications for giant-magnetoresistance （GMR） and tunneling magnetoresistance （TMR） as well as spin transfer is presented with the emphasis on the operative physical properties of the spintronic devices, including magnetic field sensors, galvanic isolators, read heads, random access memories, spin transfer switches and spin torque nano-oscillators. Desirable GMR and TMR materials involved in the device operation are discussed. Three-terminal spintronic devices, i. e. , spin transistors, are also reviewed with the focus on the basic physical principles for these pure research devices at present.