Investigation of Current Induced Spin Polarization in III-V Semiconductor Epilayers

Abstract

In the development of a semiconductor spintronics device, a thorough understanding of spin dynamics in semiconductors is necessary. In particular, electrical control of electron spins is advantageous for its compatibility with present day electronics. In this thesis, we will discuss the electrical modification of the electron g-factor, which characterizes the strength of the interaction between a spin and a magnetic field, as well as investigate electrically generated spin polarizations as a function of various material parameters.

We report on the modification of the electron g-factor by an in-plane electric field in an InGaAs epilayer. We performed external magnetic field scans of the Kerr rotation of the InGaAs film in order to measure the g-factor independently of the spin-orbit fields. The g-factor increases from -0.4473(0.0001) at 0 V/cm to -0.4419( 0.0001) at 50 V/cm applied along the [110] crystal axis. A comparison of temperature and voltage dependent photoluminescence measurements indicate that minimal channel heating occurs at these voltages. Possible explanations for this g-factor modification are discussed, including an increase in the electron temperature that is independent of the lattice temperature and the modification of the donor-bound electron wave function by the electric field.

The current-induced spin polarization and momentum-dependent spin-orbit field were measured in InGaAs epilayers with varying indium concentrations and silicon doping densities. Samples with higher indium concentrations and carrier concentrations and lower mobilities were found to have larger electrical spin generation efficiencies. Furthermore, current-induced spin polarization was detected in GaAs epilayers despite the absence of measurable spin-orbit fields, indicating that the spin polarization mechanism is extrinsic. Temperature-dependent measurements of the spin dephasing rates and mobilities were used to characterize the relative strengths of the intrinsic D'yakonov-Perel' and extrinsic Elliot-Yafet spin dephasing mechanisms. Proposed spin polarization mechanisms are discussed and compared with the experimental results.