First-Principles Calculations on Novel Rb-Based Halide Double Perovskites Alloys for Spintronics and Optoelectronic Applications

The outcomes of computational study of electronic, magnetic and optical spectra for A2BX6 (A = Rb;B = Tc, Pb, Pt, Sn, W, Ir, Ta, Sb, Te, Se, Mo, Mn, Ti, Zr and X = Cl, Br) materials have been proceeded utilizing Vanderbilt Ultra Soft Pseudo Potential (US-PP) process. The Rb2PbBr6 and Rb2PbCl6 are found to be a (Г-Г) semiconductors with energy gaps of 0.275 and 1.142 eV, respectively making them promising photovoltaic materials. The metallic behavior of the materials for Rb2BX6 (B = Tc, W, Ir, Ta, Mn, Sb, Mo) has been confirmed showing the attendance of conducting lineaments. The dielectric function is found to be large close to the ultraviolet districts (3.10 - 4.13 eV). The extinction coefficient of the Rb2BX6 has the ability to be used for implements. The band structures and density of states ensure the magnetic semiconductors’ nature of the Rb2Mn (Cl, Br)6 perovskites. The total calculated magnetic moment of Rb2MnCl6 and Rb2MnB6 is 3.00μβ. Advanced spintronic technology requires room-temperature ferromagnetism. The present work confirms that, bromine and chlorine-founded double perovskites are extremely attractive for photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices.

High-performance spin-filtering and spin-rectifying effects in Blatter radical-based molecular spintronic device

We design a Blatter radical-based molecular spintronic device, and investigate its spin-polarized transport properties using density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green's function technique. High-performance spin-rectifying and spin-filtering effects are realized. The physical mechanism is explained by the spin-resolved bias voltage-dependent transmission spectra, the energy levels of the corresponding molecular projected self-consistent Hamiltonian orbitals, and their spatial distributions. The results demonstrate that the Blatter radical has great potential in the development of highperformance multifunctional molecular spintronic devices.

Spintronics in Two-Dimensional Materials

Spintronics,exploiting the spin degree of electrons as the information vector,is an attractive field for implementing the beyond Complemetary metal-oxide-semiconductor(CMOS)devices.Recently,two-dimensional(2D)materials have been drawing tremendous attention in spintronics owing to their distinctive spin-dependent properties,such as the ultralong spin relaxation time of graphene and the spin-valley locking of transition metal dichalcogenides.Moreover,the related heterostructures provide an unprecedented probability of combining the di erent characteristics via proximity e ect,which could remedy the limitation of individual 2D materials.Hence,the proximity engineering has been growing extremely fast and has made significant achievements in the spin injection and manipulation.Nevertheless,there are still challenges toward practical application;for example,the mechanism of spin relaxation in 2D materials is unclear,and the high-effciency spin gating is not yet achieved.In this review,we focus on 2D materials and related heterostructures to systematically summarize the progress of the spin injection,transport,manipulation,and application for information storage and processing.We also highlight the current challenges and future perspectives on the studies of spintronic devices based on 2D materials.

Perspectives on exfoliated two-dimensional spintronics

Magnetic orderings, i.e., the spontaneous alignment of electron spins below a critical temperature, have been playing key roles in modern science and technologies for both the wide applications of magnetic recording for information storage and the vibrant potential of solid state electronic spin devices (also known as spintronics) for logic operations. In the past decades, thanks to the development of thin film technologies, magnetic thin films via sputtering or epitaxial growth have made the spintronic devices possible at the industrial scale. Yet thinner materials at lower costs with more versatile functionalities are highly desirable for advancing future spintronics. Recently, van der Waals magnetic materials, a family of magnets that can in principle be exfoliated down to the monolayer limit, seem to have brought tremendous opportunities: new generation van der Waals spintronic devices can be seamlessly assembled with possible applications such as optoelectronics, flexible electronics, and etc. Moreover, those exfoliated spintronic devices can potentially be compatible with the famed metal-oxide field effect transistor architectures, allowing the harness of spin performances through the knob of an electrostatic field.

Recent spinterfacial studies targeted to spin manipulation in molecular spintronic devices

Molecular spintronics is an emerging field which evoked wide research attention since the first molecule-based spintronic device has been reported at 2002. Due to the active study over the last few years, it is found that the interfaces in spintronic device, so called spinterface, is of critical importance for many key issues in molecular spintronics, such as enhancing spin injection, lengthening spin transport distance, as well as manipulating spin signals in molecular spintronic devices. Here in this review, recent studies regarding spinterface in molecular devices, especially those impressive efforts devoted on spin manipulation, have been systematically summarized and discussed.

A spintronic memristive circuit on the optimized RBF-MLP neural network

A radial basis function network(RBF)has excellent generalization ability and approximation accuracy when its parameters are set appropriately.However,when relying only on traditional methods,it is difficult to obtain optimal network parameters and construct a stable model as well.In view of this,a novel radial basis neural network(RBF-MLP)is proposed in this article.By connecting two networks to work cooperatively,the RBF’s parameters can be adjusted adaptively by the structure of the multi-layer perceptron(MLP)to realize the effect of the backpropagation updating error.Furthermore,a genetic algorithm is used to optimize the network’s hidden layer to confirm the optimal neurons(basis function)number automatically.In addition,a memristive circuit model is proposed to realize the neural network’s operation based on the characteristics of spin memristors.It is verified that the network can adaptively construct a network model with outstanding robustness and can stably achieve 98.33%accuracy in the processing of the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology(MNIST)dataset classification task.The experimental results show that the method has considerable application value.

Magnetic two-dimensional van derWaals materials for spintronic devices

Magnetic two-dimensional(2D)van derWaals(vdWs)materials and their heterostructures attract increasing attention in the spintronics community due to their various degrees of freedom such as spin,charge,and energy valley,which may stimulate potential applications in the field of low-power and high-speed spintronic devices in the future.This review begins with introducing the long-range magnetic order in 2D vdWs materials and the recent progress of tunning their properties by electrostatic doping and stress.Next,the proximity-effect,current-induced magnetization switching,and the related spintronic devices(such as magnetic tunnel junctions and spin valves)based on magnetic 2D vdWs materials are presented.Finally,the development trend of magnetic 2D vdWs materials is discussed.This review provides comprehensive understandings for the development of novel spintronic applications based on magnetic 2D vdWs materials.

Technical Note and Brief Overview of the Materials Science and Technology along with Designing Aspects for Development of Spintronic Devices with Optimum Efficiency

One of the major challenges in designing and fabricating Spintronic devices is the choice of both, Materials and the Technology, along with understanding the intricacies of the Designing aspects. In this communication, we have attempted to briefly discuss these factors, with an aim to draw the attention of the Materials Scientists and Technologists to this serious challenge, in the direction of which, though a lot of research and development work has been done, still needs more concerted efforts to be made in order to make the Spintronic devices that can offer good efficiency for maximizing their usefulness.

Artificial neuron and synapse in spintronics devices

Neuromorphic computing is the development of computingschemes inspired by the processing of information in thebrain, which can execute complex tasks very efficiently usingan architecture that is completely different from that of semiconductorchips. Recently, researchers from Tohoku Universityhave realized an artificial neuron and synapse in spintronicsdevices, which are promising for future energy-efficientand adoptive computing systems, as they behave likethe spiking neural network in human brains.

Silicene spintronics——A concise review

Spintronics involves the study of active control and manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. The fascinating spin-resolved properties of graphene motivate numerous researchers to study spintronics in graphene and other two-dimensional(2D) materials. Silicene, the silicon analog of graphene, is considered to be a promising material for spintronics. Here, we present a review of theoretical advances with regard to spin-dependent properties, including the electric field- and exchange field-tunable topological properties of silicene and the corresponding spintronic device simulations.

Spinterface:A new platform for spintronics

Since its discovery in early 2000’s Molecular Spintronics has developed in an established and fructuous research field,achieving a number of outstanding results and unveiling unusual spintronic properties.Typically the most mysterious device element,the interface,in molecular spintronics has on contrary received and enormous attention and even gained a special nickname–the spinterface.Based on significant efforts of many research groups worldwide it has been established its critical role in defining the main functionalities of molecular spintronic devices.Noteworthily the spinterface was found to control the properties of the both components constituting the interface,not only those of the molecular layer but surprisingly also those of the magnetic counterpart.This paper aims to overview the most striking spinterface properties and to highlight the possibilities to promote new device paradigms based on interfacial modulation.

Spin-filter effect and spin-polarized optoelectronic properties in annulene-based molecular spintronic devices

Using Fe, Co or Ni chains as electrodes, we designed several annulene-based molecular spintronic devices and investigated the quantum transport properties based on density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green＇s function method.Our results show that these devices have outstanding spin-filter capabilities and exhibit giant magnetoresistance effect,and that with Ni chains as electrodes, the device has the best transport properties. Furthermore, we investigated the spinpolarized optoelectronic properties of the device with Ni electrodes and found that the spin-polarized photocurrents can be directly generated by irradiating the device with infrared, visible or ultraviolet light. More importantly, if the magnetization directions of the two electrodes are antiparallel, the photocurrents with different spins are spatially separated, appearing at different electrodes. This phenomenon provides a new way to simultaneously generate two spin currents.

Spin-dependent balance equations in spintronics

It is commonly known that the hydrodynamic equations can be derived from the Boltzmann equation. In this paper, we derive similar spin-dependent balance equations based on the spinor Boltzmann equation. Besides the usual charge current, heat current, and pressure tensor, we also explore the characteristic spin accumulation and spin current as well as the spin-dependent pressure tensor and heat current in spintronics. The numerical results of these physical quantities are demonstrated using an example of spin-polarized transport through a mesoscopic ferromagnet.

Ultra-low Young’s modulus and high super-exchange interactions in monolayer CrN: A promising candidate for flexible spintronic applications

Monolayer CrN has been predicted to be half-metallic ferromagnet with high Curie temperature.Due to bulk CrN’s biocompatibility,the monolayer is a promising candidate for bio-related devices.Here,using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory,we find that the formation energy of the bulk CrN stacking from layers with square lattice is only 68 meV/atom above the convex hull,suggesting a great potential to fabricate the monolayer CrN in a square lattice by using molecular beam epitaxy method.The monolayer CrN is then proved to be a soft material with an ultra-low Young’s modulus and can sustain very large strains.Moreover,the analysis of the projected density of states demonstrates that the ferromagnetic half-metallicity originates from the splitting of Cr-d orbitals in the CrN square crystal field,the bonding interaction between Cr-N,and that between Cr-Cr atoms.It is worth noting that the super-exchange interaction is much larger than the direct-exchange interaction and contributes to the ultra-high Curie temperature,which is obtained from Monte Carlo simulations based on Heisenberg model.Our findings suggest that the monolayer CrN can be an indispensable candidate for nanoscale flexible spintronic applications with good biocompatibility and is considerable appealing to be realized in experiment.

Progress in organic spintronics

Recent progress in organic spintronics is given an informative overview, covering spin injection, detection, and trans-port in organic spin valve devices, and the magnetic field effect in organic semiconductors （OSCs）. In particular, we focus on our own recent work in spin injection and the organic magnetic field effect （OMFE）.

Reactively sputtered Fe_3 O_4 -based films for spintronics

Half metallic polycrystalline, epitaxial Fe3O4 films and Fe3O4 -based heterostructures for spintronics were fabricated by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. Large tunneling magnetoresistance was found in the polycrystalline Fe3O4 films and attributed to the insulating grain boundaries. The pinning effect of the moments at the grain boundaries leads to a significant exchange bias. Frozen interfacial/surface moments induce weak saturation of the high-field magnetoresistance. The films show a moment rotation related butterfly-shaped magnetoresistance. It was found that in the films, natural growth defects, antiphase boundaries, and magnetocrystalline anisotropy play important roles in high-order anisotropic magnetoresistance. Spin injection from Fe3O4 films to semiconductive Si and ZnO was measured to be 45% and 28.5%, respectively. The positive magnetoresistance in the Fe3O4 -based heterostructures is considered to be caused by a shift of the Fe3O4 e g ↑ band near the interface. Enhanced magnetization was observed in Fe3O4 /BiFeO 3 heterostructures experimentally and further proved by first principle calculations. The enhanced magnetization can be explained by spin moments of the thin BiFeO 3 layer substantially reversing into a ferromagnetic arrangement under a strong coupling that is principally induced by electronic orbital reconstruction at the interface.

Materials for Spintronics: Magnetic and Transport Properties of Ultrathin (Monolayer Graphene)/MnO(001) and MnO(001) Films

Results of investigations of band structure, Fermi surface and effective masses of charge carriers in the ultrathin (monolayer graphene)/MnO(001) and MnO(001) films are presented using the method of the density functional theory. Features of spin states of valence band and Fermi level as well as an interatomic interaction in these systems are discussed. A magnetic moment at Mn atom is estimated and an effect of spin polarization at atoms of oxygen and carbon has been revealed which natures are discussed. By calculations of structural energies for 2D (monolayer graphene)/MnO(001) and 2D MnO(001) a stability of these systems has been ascertained. In the 2D (monolayer graphene)/MnO(001) and 2D MnO(001) systems the band structure calculations for the 2D systems mentioned above point out that tensor components of effective masses of both electrons and holes are in the ranges of (0.15 - 0.54) m0 and (0.38 - 1.27) m0 respectively. Mobility estimations of two-dimensional charge carriers for a 2D (monolayer graphene)/MnO(001)AF2 heterostructure have been performed.

Challenges and Prospects of Molecular Spintronics

Molecular spintronics,as an emerging field that makes full use of the advantage of ultralong room-temperature spin lifetime and abundant electrical-optical-magnetic properties of molecular semiconductors,has gained wide attention for its great potential for further commercial applications.Despite the significant progress that has been made,there remain several huge challenges that limit the future development of this field.This Perspective provides discussions on the spin transport mechanisms and performances of molecular semiconductors,spinterface effect,and related spin injection in spintronic devices,and current spin-charge interactive functionalities,along with the summarization of the main obstacles of these aspects.Furthermore,we particularly propose targeted solutions,aiming to enhance the spin injection and transport efficiency by molecular design and interface engineering and explore diverse spinrelated functionalities.Through this Perspective,we hope it will help the spintronic community identify the research trends and accelerate the development of molecular spintronics.

Two-dimensional magnetic materials for spintronic applications

Spintronic devices are driving new paradigms of bio-inspired,energy efficient computation like neuromorphic stochastic computing and in-memory computing.They have also emerged as key candidates for non-volatile memories for embedded systems as well as alternatives to persistent memories.To meet the growing demands from such diverse applications,there is need for innovation in materials and device designs which can be scaled and adapted according to the application.Two-dimensional(2D)magnetic materials address challenges facing bulk magnet systems by offering scalability while maintaining device integrity and allowing efficient control of magnetism.In this review,we highlight the progress made in experimental studies on 2D magnetic materials towards their integration into spintronic devices.We provide an account of the various relevant material discoveries,demonstrations of current and voltage-based control of magnetism and reported device systems,while also discussing the challenges and opportunities towards integration of 2D magnetic materials in commercial spintronic devices.

Rare earth based MgPm_(2)X_(4)(X=S,Se) spinel chalcogenides for spintronic and thermoelectric applications

In current report,the structural,magnetic,and thermoelectric properties of RE doped MgPm_(2)X_(4)(X=S,Se) spinels were investigated.The energy difference in ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic states reveals the stability of MgPm_(2)(S/Se)_(4) in the ferromagnetic states.The co mputation of enthalpy of formation also ascertains thermodynamic stability of crystal structure.Spin-dependent band structure and density of states analysis reveal ferromagnetic semiconducting character showing different electronic behavior in both spin channels.The room temperature ferromagnetism,spin polarization and Curie temperature are estimated from exchange energies analysis.In addition,exchange constants(N_(0)α and N_(0)β),exchange energy Δ_(x)(pd),crystal ifeld energy,and double exchange mechanism were studied to explore the magnetic response.Likewise,the electrical conductivity,thermal conductivity,Seebeck co-efficient,and power factor show effect on electrons spin and their potential for thermoelectric devices.