Fully Electrical Read-Write Device Out of a Ferromagnetic Semiconductor

Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 057204 (2011) [4 pages]

S. Mark, P. Dürrenfeld, K. Pappert, L. Ebel, K. Brunner, C. Gould, and L. W. Molenkamp

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.057204

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.057204

 

We report the realization of a read-write device out of the ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As as the first step to a fundamentally new information processing paradigm. Writing the magnetic state is achieved by current-induced switching and readout of the state is done by the means of the tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance effect. This 1 bit demonstrator device can be used to design an electrically programmable memory and logic device.