The effect of spin drift on spin accumulation voltages in highly-doped Si

Abstract

An investigation was carried out into the effect of spin drift on spin accumulation signals in highly-doped Si using non-local 4-terminal (NL-4T) and 3-terminal (NL-3T) methods. The spin signals in the NL-4T scheme were not affected by spin drift, and the bias dependence was governed by whether spins were injected into or extracted from the Si channel. In contrast, the spin signal was strongly modulated by the bias electric field in the NL-3T scheme. The bias electric field dependence of the spin signals in the NL-3T method was quantitatively clarified using the spin drift-diffusion equation, and the results can be reasonably explained.