Non-ohmic spin transport in n-type doped silicon

Abstract

We demonstrate the injection and transport of spin-polarized electrons through n-type doped silicon with in-plane spin-valve and perpendicular magnetic field spin precession and dephasing ("Hanle effect") measurements. A voltage applied across the transport layer is used to vary the confinement potential caused by conduction band-bending and control the dominant transport mechanism between drift and diffusion. By modeling transport in this device with a Monte-Carlo scheme, we simulate the observed spin polarization and Hanle features, showing that the average transit time across the short Si transport layer can be controlled over 4 orders of magnitude with applied voltage. As a result, this modeling allows inference of a long electron spin lifetime, despite the short transit length.