letters to nature
Here the prefactor is given by the following expression for a three-
dimensional potential15:
jqs1† jq 1† q 2† q 3†
W K0 ˆ 4†
2pg qs2† qs3†
Here q(j) (j)
s and q characterize, respectively, the curvatures of the
potential at the saddle point 2and at the minimum from which
the system escapes, with (q(1) s ) , 0. Therefore, with knowledge of
the potential, not only the exponential term, but also the prefactor
can be explicitly computed, as shown in Table 1.
Figure 3 shows a plot of the Kramers rates, W K, calculated from
equations (3) and (4) as a function of the transition rates, W meas,
obtained from the mean dwell time in each state or by ®tting an
exponential to a histogram of dwell times, in accordance with a
Poisson distribution, which yielded equivalent results. The systema-
tic variation of the potential barrier DU by approximately 6 kBT is
responsible for the nearly three-decade variation in transition rates.
The solid line with unity slope denotes the coincidence of theory
and experiment. The data fall remarkably close to the line, con-
®rming the multidimensional Kramers theory of transition rates.
One of the major contributors to the uncertainty in calculating
W Kis the error in the saddle point frequencies entering equation
(4). This is primarily statistical, since the particle spends little time
in the vicinity of rs. This error is ampli®ed for the highest barriers
with the lowest transition rates. At low barriers, the statistical
uncertainty is small since the transition rates are large, but the
Kramers theory is not strictly valid here. If the thermal diffusion
length exceeds the size of the parabolic region in the vicinities of the
stationary states, then the transition rates are affected by the shape
of the potential away from the stationary states. However, the
corrections to the theory are small in the range of parameters
studied here.
Detailed knowledge of the overall potential, as afforded by our
experiments, should enable investigations of the escape rate of
underdamped particles in the region in which escape occurs by
diffusion over energy, as well as the Kramers turnover region8,18.
This can be accomplished with present methods by reducing the
viscous damping on the particle. Knowledge of the potential is also
crucial for understanding strategies for control of escape. Escape
occurs by large ¯uctuations19 that move the system from a mini-
mum of the potential to the barrier top along optimal paths. The
results of this work make it possible to ®nd these paths, enabling
selective control of escape rates by external modulating ®elds20.
Received 12 August ; accepted 7 October 1999.
1. Han, S., Lapoint, J. & Lukens, J. E. Effect of a two-dimensional potential on the rate of thermally
induced escape over the potential barrier. Phys. Rev. B 46, 6338±6345 (1992).
2. Devoret, M. H., Esteve, D., Martinis, J. M., Cleland, A. & Clarke, J. Resonant activation of a brownian
particle out of a well: microwave-enhanced escape from the zero-voltage state of a Josephson junction.
Phys. Rev. B 36, 58±73 (1987).
3. van Kampen, N. G. Stochastic Processes in Physics and Chemistry (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1992).
4. Gillespie, D. T. Exact stochastic simulation of coupled chemical reactions. J. Chem. Phys. 81, 2340±
2361 (1977).
5. Sali, A., Shakhnovich, E. & Karplus, M. How does a protein fold? Nature 369, 248±251 (1994).
6. White, S. H. & Wimley, W. C. Membrane protein folding and stability: Physical principles. Annu. Rev.
Biophys. Biomol. Struct. 28, 319±365 (1999).
7. Kramers, H. A. Brownian motion in a ®eld of force and the diffusion model of chemical reactions.
Physica 7, 284±304 (1940).
8. Melnikov, V. I. The Kramers problem: ®fty years of development. Phys. Rep. 209, 2±71 (1991).
9. Mehta, A. D., Reif, M., Spudich, J. A., Smith, D. A. & Simmons, R. M. Single molecule biomechanics
with optical methods. Science 283, 1689±1695 (1999).
10. Smith, D. E., Babcock, H. P. & Chu, S. Single-polymer dynamics in steady shear ¯ow. Science 283,
1724±1727 (1999).
11. Svoboda, K., Schmidt, C. F., Schnapp, B. J. & Block, S. M. Direct observation of kinesin stepping by
optical trapping interferometry. Nature 365, 721±727 (1993).
12. Tskhovrebova, L., Trinick, J., Sleep, J. A. & Simmons, R. M. Elasticity and unfolding of single
molecules of the giant muscle protein titin. Nature 387, 308±312 (1997).
13. Simon, A. & Libchaber, A. Escape and synchronization of a brownian particle. Phys. Rev. Lett. 68,
3375±3378 (1992).
14. Ghislain, L. P., Switz, N. A. & Webb, W. W. Measurement of small forces using an optical trap. Rev. Sci.
Instrum. 65, 2762±2768 (1994).
NATURE | VOL 402 | 16 DECEMBER 1999 | www.nature.com
© 1999 Macmillan Magazines Ltd
15. Landauer, R. & Swanson, J. A. Frequency factors in the thermally activated process. Phys. Rev. 121,
1668±1674 (1961).
16. Risken, H. The Fokker-Planck Equation (Springer, Berlin, 1989).
17. HaÈnggi, P., Talkner, P. & Borkovec, M. Reaction-rate theory: ®fty years after Kramers. Rev. Mod. Phys.
62, 251±341 (1990).
18. Linkwitz, S., Grabert, H., Turlot, E., Esteve, D. & Devoret, M. H. Escape rates in the region between the
Kramers limits. Phys. Rev. A 45, R3369±R3372 (1992).
19. Luchinsky, D. G. & McClintock, P. V. E. Irreversibility of classical ¯uctuations studied in analogue
electrical circuits. Nature 389, 463±466 (1997).
20. Smelyanskiy, V., Dykman, M. I. & Golding, B. Time oscillations of escape rates in periodically driven
systems. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3193±3197 (1999).
Acknowledgements
We thank R. Kruse for his assistance with the experiment and graphics. Support from the
Center for Fundamental Materials Research at Michigan State University and from the
NSF Division of Physics, and Division of Materials Research is gratefully acknowledged.
Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to B.G.
(email: golding@pa.msu.edu).
.................................................................
Injection and detection
of a spin-polarized current
in a light-emitting diode
R. Fiederling, M. Keim, G. Reuscher, W. Ossau, G. Schmidt, A. Waag
& L. W. Molenkamp
Physikalisches Institut, EP III, UniversitaÈt WuÈrzburg, 97074 WuÈrzburg, Germany
..............................................................................................................................................
The ®eld of magnetoelectronics has been growing in practical
importance in recent years1. For example, devices that harness
electronic spinÐsuch as giant-magnetoresistive sensors and
magnetoresistive memory cellsÐare now appearing on the
market2. In contrast, magnetoelectronic devices based on spin-
polarized transport in semiconductors are at a much earlier stage
of development, largely because of the lack of an ef®cient means of
injecting spin-polarized charge. Much work has focused on the use
of ferromagnetic metallic contacts3,4, but it has proved exceedingly
dif®cult to demonstrate polarized spin injection. More recently,
two groups5,6 have reported successful spin injection from an NiFe
contact, but the observed effects of the spin-polarized transport
were quite small (resistance changes of less than 1%). Here we
describe a different approach, in which the magnetic semi-
conductor BexMnyZn1-x-ySe is used as a spin aligner. We achieve
injection ef®ciencies of 90% spin-polarized current into a non-
magnetic semiconductor device. The device used in this case is a
GaAs/AlGaAs light-emitting diode, and spin polarization is con-
®rmed by the circular polarization state of the emitted light.
The quaternary II±VI magnetic semiconductor BexMnyZn1-x-ySe
has particular properties that make it ideally suitable as a spin-
aligner for injecting electrons into GaAs. If its lattice parameter is
kept constant and matched to the lattice constant of the GaAs
substrate, then the Mn concentration can be varied over a wide
range. The magnetic Mn ions are incorporated isoelectronically, and
the conductivity type can be controlled by external dopants. This is
in contrast to, for example, the III±V counterpart GaxMn1-xAs,
where the incorporation of Mn inherently leads to a high p-type
doping7 . Here we used n-type BexMnyZn1-x-ySe as the spin-
aligning material. Spin-injection of electrons rather than holes is
advantageous because of the reduced spin±orbit coupling in the
conduction band, decreasing spin decoherence. From the electrical
point of view, BexMnyZn1-x-ySe is also ideally suited as a spin-aligner
on a GaAs-based heterostructure, as it allows for high quality
787
letters to nature

Be0.07Mn0.03Zn0.9Se GaAs 0.5

0.4
B=0 B>0 mj
–1/2 +1/2 mj 0.3
+1/2
–1/2
0.2

Popt
1 0.1
3 1 3
0.0

–3/2 –0.1
–1/2
+1/2 –3/2 –1/2 +1/2 +3/2 mj –0.2
+3/2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Magnetic field (T)

Figure 1 Conduction and valence band states of BexMnyZn1-x-ySe and GaAs in an external
magnetic ®eld, B. The transition matrix element for heavy-hole transitions is a factor of 3
larger than for light-hole transitions.
Figure 3 Degree of circular polarization of the electroluminescence. The results are
shown as a function of the magnetic ®eld strength for electron-injection across
n-BexMnyZn1-x-ySe spin-aligners (dSM = 300 nm, squares), (dSM = 3 nm, circles) and
across a non-polarizing n-BexMnyZn1-x-ySe electrode (dNM = 300 nm, dSM = 0 nm,
triangles). The crosses represent the experimental data of the intrinsic polarization degree
of the GaAs layer.

a b

n-contact

n-BeMgZnSe
BeMgZnSe

p-contact
n-contact

BeMnZnSe n-AlGaAs i-GaAs p-AlGaAs p-GaAs n-BeMnZnSe B

spin aligner
n-AlGaAs
i-GaAs
p-AlGaAs

p-GaAs
dNM dSM
p-contact
100 nm 300 nm 100 nm 15 nm 500 nm 300 mm

Figure 2 Device geometry and electric band structure. a, Schematic band structure of the the active GaAs layer, unpolarized holes from the right. b, Side view of the device showing
spin-aligner light-emitting diode. Spin-polarized electrons are injected from the left into the direction of the magnetic ®eld and the emitted light.

interfaces with a conduction-band offset of less than 100 meV.
Electrons may thus be injected at low energy, close to the bottom of
the GaAs conduction band.
Manganese spins in undoped or n-type doped ZnSe based II±VI
materials are usually anti-ferromagnetically coupled8 . However, for
low Mn-concentrations and at low temperatures the sp±d exchange
interaction leads to a giant g-factorÐthe effective Lande factor of an
electron inside the semiconductorÐof up to 100, resulting in a
large Zeeman splitting of band-edge-related states. (This is similar
to the Zeeman splitting in EuSe which has been used previously as a
spin-dependent tunnel barrier between a metal and a super-
conductor9.) We exploit the large Zeeman splitting to align the
spins of all injected carriers to the energetically favourable lower
Zeeman level. Subsequently these spin-polarized electrons are
passed into the non-magnetic GaAs layer10,11. Spin dephasing
times are long for electrons in GaAs, so that the preferential spin
orientation will survive for a diffusion length of up to 100 mm
(refs 12, 13). Hence electric devices like light-emitting diodes
(LEDs) or transistors can be driven with this spin-polarized current.
In order to detect the spin-polarized current in non-magnetic
GaAs, it is convenient to study the degree of circular polarization of
the electroluminescence emitted by an (Al,Ga)As diode14. In GaAs,
the conduction band (s-character) is two-fold spin degenerate,
whereas the valence band (p-character) is four-fold degenerate
(heavy- and light-hole spin). The situation is schematically depicted
in Fig. 1. Spin degeneracy can be lifted in a magnetic ®eld, and the
light-hole / heavy-hole degeneracy can be lifted by, for example,
biaxial strain or con®nement. We neglect the small light-hole /
heavy-hole splitting induced by the con®nement in the 15-nm wide
undoped GaAs layer, since the Al content of the Al0.03Ga0.97As
barriers used in our devices is small, and the quantum well width
is large. When the conduction-band states are occupied with
carriers of one spin orientation only, for example by injecting
spin +1/2 electrons from a BexMnyZn1-x-ySe contact, then according
to the selection rule for the magnetic quantum number mj
(Dmj ˆ 6 1), only two transitions are possible: one heavy-hole
transition (from +1/2 to +3/2) and one light-hole transition (from
+1/2 to -1/2). Whereas the heavy-hole transition is circularly
polarized in one direction (called j+), the light-hole transition is
polarized in the opposite direction (s-). The heavy-hole transition
matrix element is a factor of 3 larger than that of the light-hole
transition15, and therefore, the emitted light will be circularly
polarized, with a degree of polarization of Popt given by:
3n" ‡ n# † 2 3n# ‡ n" †
Popt ˆ
3n" ‡ n# † ‡ 3n# ‡ n" †
Here n" and n# are the respective occupation numbers of the spin
1
2
levels. This equation connects the circular polarization of
the emitted electroluminescence with the polarization degree Pj =
(J" - J #)/(J" + J#), where J is current density of the spin-polarized

788
© 1999 Macmillan Magazines Ltd NATURE | VOL 402 | 16 DECEMBER 1999 | www.nature.com

0.50
0.45
B=1.5T
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
Popt
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Temperature (K)
Figure 4 Temperature dependence of the degree of circular polarization of the
electroluminescence of the dSM = 300 nm diode. The line represents a ®t using the
splitting and occupation of the spin levels.
current. Popt will depend on the original degree of spin-polarization
of injected carriers, and the amount of depolarization due to
scattering at the interface and during the diffusion into the quantum
well.
We designed several relatively simple structures (Fig. 2) for
demonstrating electrical spin-injection into GaAs. They consist of
p-i-n diodes with a 15-nm-wide GaAs layer, embedded in
Al0.03Ga0.97As barriers. The top n-contacts consist of the semi-
magnetic Be0.07Mn0.03Zn0.9Se with thickness dSM and/or a non-
magnetic Be Mg Zn Se layer of thickness dNM. The total thickness
of the II±VI top layer (dSM + dNM = 300 nm) is kept constant in order
to maintain the same overall injection conditions. A total of four
wafers was grown, and several devices were fabricated from each
wafer. All devices exhibit consistent behaviour.
When a small external magnetic ®eld is applied, the electrons
passing through the II±VI top layer will become spin-polarized in
the BexMnyZn1-x-ySe layer. The polarization degree of the injected
electrons will depend on the thickness of the semimagnetic layer
dSM. The holes are injected from the bottom p-GaAs substrate and
pass through p- Al0.03Ga0.97As; hence they are unpolarized. Both p-
Al0.03Ga0.97As and n-doped II±VI layers are heavily doped in order
to prevent freeze-out (rebinding of electrons and holes at the dopant
atoms) of carriers at low temperatures. In order to minimize the
dephasing and scattering of the injected carriers' spin, the distance
between the injecting BexMnyZn1-x-ySe layer and the GaAs layer has
been kept small (100 nm). In addition, the Al0.03Ga0.97As spacer in-
between was only slightly doped (1016 cm-3). It has been shown that
the preservation of electron spin over long distances is maximized at
such a doping level16.
In Fig. 3, we show Popt of the electroluminescence under forward
bias as a function of the magnetic ®eld. We indeed detect a strongly
polarized electroluminescence, with a maximum Popt of 43% for the
structure with the thick semimagnetic injection layer (squares in
Fig. 3). Popt increases with magnetic ®eld until it saturates for ®elds
above 3 T. This behaviour re¯ects the degree of spin-polarization of
the injected carriers achieved in the BexMnyZn1-x-ySe spin-aligner,
where the Zeeman splitting follows a typical Brillouin function, and
saturates when all carriers are aligned along the direction of the
external magnetic ®eld. Taking into account the four-fold degen-
eracy of the valence band, this corresponds to an electron spin-
polarization Pj of almost 90%. The temperature dependence of Popt
has been studied and is shown in Fig. 4. The value of the g-factor in
BexMnyZn1-x-ySe decreases drastically with increasing temperature8,
according to the splitting and occupation of the spin-levels. Again,
this behaviour is re¯ected by the polarization of the electrolumi-
NATURE | VOL 402 | 16 DECEMBER 1999 | www.nature.com
© 1999 Macmillan Magazines Ltd
letters to nature
nescence, which decreases with temperature and follows the correct
functional dependence (a hyperbolic tangent with a Brillouin
function as argument).
In order to separate the effects of spin-injection from other effects
that could also lead to polarized luminescence, we made special
efforts to ensure that polarization effects of the monochromator
grating, mirrors, windows and the excitation source were elimi-
nated. The bandgap of the BexMnyZn1-x-ySe spin-aligner is twice as
large as that of the active GaAs layer, avoiding possible complica-
tions from ®eld-induced optical dichroism. We veri®ed that the
handedness of the circular optical polarization changes with mag-
netic ®eld reversal. In addition, we fabricated structures with
magnetic injectors of reduced thickness dSM = 3 nm as well as
structures with a fully non-magnetic injector (dNM = 300nm). The
structures with dSM = 3 nm show a reduced degree of optical
polarization of 11% at high magnetic ®elds (circles in Fig. 3)
indicating that the layer is too thin to achieve complete relaxation
of all spins into the lower Zeeman level. The structure with a non-
magnetic injector (BexMgyZn1-x-ySe) shows almost no polarization
of the electroluminescence (triangles in Fig. 3). We have also
measured the degree of optical polarization of the emission from
the GaAs layer (crosses in Fig.3) obtained by photoexcitation (using
unpolarized light) in the barrier layers. The results of this experi-
ment rule out any contribution of ®eld-induced optical dichroism
in the electroluminescence of the diode: the degree of polarization
in the photoluminescence is very small and opposite in sign to that
obtained for the experiment with spin-polarized electron injection.
This behaviour can be fully attributed to the intrinsic g-factors of
the GaAs layer. In the electroluminescence of the diodes, the
intrinsic polarization of the GaAs layer only becomes important
when the polarization degree of the spin-injected electrons satu-
rates. This is the reason for the observed decrease of Popt for the
electroluminescence at high magnetic ®elds (squares in Fig. 3).
These combined results can only be interpreted as clear evidence
that the polarized electroluminescence of the spin-aligner LED is
due to the injection of spin-polarized carriers into GaAs. The very
large degree of spin-polarization achieved in this device clearly
illustrates that the spin-aligner approach, although limited to low
temperatures, seems ideally suited to test the many outstanding
predictions on the physics of spin transport. In this context, the
moderate magnetic ®elds needed to obtain a sizeable Zeeman
splitting in the spin-aligner layer can conveniently be obtained by
using a ferromagnetic metallic contact.
Received 5 July; accepted 19 October 1999.
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2. Parkin, S. S. P. et al. Exchange-biased magnetic tunnel junctions and application to nonvolatile
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3. Datta, S. & Das, B. Electronic analog of the electro-optic modulator. Appl. Phys. Lett. 56(7), 665±667
(1990).
4. Prinz, G. A. Spin-polarized transport. Phys. Today 48(4), 58±63 (1995).
5. Hammar, P. R., Bennet, B. R., Yang, M. J. & Johnson, M. Observation of spin injection at a
ferromagnet-semiconductor interface. Phys. Rev. Lett. 83(1), 203±206 (1999).
6. Gardelis, S., Smith, C. G., Barnes, C. H. W., Lin®eld, E. H. & Ritchie, D. A. Spin-value effects in a
semiconductor ®eld effect transistor: A spintronic device. Phys. Rev. B 60(11), 7764±7767 (1999).
7. Matsukura, F., Ohno, H., Shen, A. & Sugawara Y. Transport properties and origin of ferromagnetism
in (Ga,Mn)As. Phys. Rev. B 57, R2037±R2040 (1998).
8. Furdyna, J. K. Diluted magnetic semiconductors. J. Appl. Phys. 64, R29±R64 (1988).
9. Moodera, J. S., Meservey, R. & Hao, X. Variation of the electron-spin polarization in EuSe tunnel
junctions from zero to near 100% in a magnetic ®eld. Phys. Rev. Lett. 70(6), 853±856 (1993).
10. Oestreich, M. et al. Spin injection into semiconductors. Appl. Phys. Lett. 74, 1251±1253 (1999).
11. Carlos Egues J. Spin-dependent perpendicular magnetotransport through a tunable
ZnSe/Zn1-xMnxSe heterostructure: A possible spin ®lter. Phys. Rev. Lett. 80(20), 4578±4581 (1998).
12. HaÈgele, D., Oestreich, M., RuÈhle, W. W., Nestle, N. & Eberl, K. Spin transport in GaAs. Appl . Phys. Lett.
73(1), 1580±1582 (1998).
13. Kikkawa, J. M. & Awschalom, D. D Lateral drag of spin coherence in gallium arsenide. Nature 397,
139±141 (1999).
14. Aronov, A. G. & Pikus, G. E. Spin injection into semiconductors. Sov. Phys. Semicond. 10, 698±700
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15. Weisbuch, C. & Vinter, B. Quantum Semiconductor StructuresÐFundamentals and Applications
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Today 6, 33±38 (1999).
789
letters to nature
Acknowledgements electrode deposition (a 5-nm-thick chromium ®lm and a 150-
We acknowledge the ®nancial support of the European Commission (Esprit project nm-thick gold ®lm) and cleaved into 1-mm pieces. Two sets of
SPIDER) as well as the Bundesministerium fuÈr Bildung und Forschung (Verbundprojekt control samples were prepared to verify spin injection, including a
Elektronische Korrelationen und Magnetismus). We would also like to thank Th. Gruber,
V. Hock, B. KoÈnig, D.Yakovlev, G. MuÈller and G. E. W. Bauer for discussions and help.
non-magnetic device (d ˆ 20 nm) with a p-type GaAs:Be layer
(N D ˆ 2 3 1018 cm 2 3 ) substituted for the (Ga,Mn)As layer and a
Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to L.W.M. magnetic structure (d ˆ 100 nm) without metal contacts enabling
(e-mail: laurens.molenkamp@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de).
optical excitation of the QW.
Spontaneous magnetization develops below TC in (Ga,Mn)As,
creating spin-polarized holes14. Under forward-bias conditions,
spin-polarized holes are injected into the QW through the undoped
GaAs spacer layer (Fig. 1a), while unpolarized electrons are supplied
................................................................. from the bottom n-GaAs substrate. The devices were driven with a
1-kHz sinusoid to minimize sample heating. A representative
Electrical spin injection current±voltage (I±V) plot characteristic of the devices, with
d ˆ 20 nm, is shown in the inset of Fig. 1b. The samples were
in a ferromagnetic mounted in a magneto-optical cryostat with a variable magnetic
®eld that was monitored by in situ Hall bars, and applied in the
semiconductor heterostructure easy plane of the (Ga,Mn)As layer. Electroluminescence (EL) was
collected from the cleaved facet to minimize magneto-optical
Y. Ohno*, D. K. Young², B. Beschoten², F. Matsukura*, H. Ohno* effects due to the nearby (Ga,Mn)As. The polarization P ˆ
& D. D. Awschalom² j‡ 2 j 2 †= j‡ ‡ j 2 † of the EL spectra was analysed with a variable
wave plate and linear polarizer, and detected with a charge-coupled
* Laboratory for Electronic Intelligent Systems, Research Institute of Electrical device attached to a 0.5-m spectrometer. Here j+ and j- are the
Communication, Tohoku University, Katahira 2-1-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, energy-integrated (shaded grey area in Fig. 1b) intensity of right and
Japan left circularly polarized components of the EL peak respectively.
² Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, Quantum Institute, Figure 1b shows the spectrally resolved total EL intensity (black
University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA curve) and polarization (red curve) at temperature T ˆ 6 K and
.............................................................................................................................................. magnetic ®eld H ˆ 1000 Oe of a device with d ˆ 20 nm. A peak in
Conventional electronics is based on the manipulation of electro- the EL intensity (full-width at half-maximum, FWHM ˆ 13 meV)
nic charge. An intriguing alternative is the ®eld of `spintronics',
wherein the classical manipulation of electronic spin in semicon-
ductor devices gives rise to the possibility of reading and writing
non-volatile information through magnetism1,2. Moreover, the a
ability to preserve coherent spin states in conventional
semiconductors3 and quantum dots4 may eventually enable quan- GaMnAs (p) H
tum computing in the solid state5,6. Recent studies have shown +
GaAs spacer (i) h d
that optically excited electron spins can retain their coherence I
over distances exceeding 100 micrometres (ref. 7). But to inject InGaAs (i) σ+
spin-polarized carriers electrically remains a formidable GaAs (i)
GaAs buffer (n)
challenge8,9. Here we report the fabrication of all-semiconductor, GaAs substrate (n)
light-emitting spintronic devices using III±V heterostructures
based on gallium arsenide. Electrical spin injection into a non-
b
magnetic semiconductor is achieved (in zero magnetic ®eld) using
4
a p-type ferromagnetic semiconductor10 as the spin polarizer. Spin 10
EL intensity (arbitrary units)

polarization of the injected holes is determined directly from the 100 3

I (mA)

8
polarization of the emitted electroluminescence following the
Polarization (%)
2
recombination of the holes with the injected (unpolarized) 1 6
electrons. 10
0
0 0.5 4
1.0 1.5
The device structure shown in Fig. 1a was grown by molecular V (V)
beam epitaxy on a (100) n-GaAs substrate with a 500 nm n+-GaAs 2

buffer layer (doping density N D ˆ 2 3 1018 cm 2 3 ) and the follow- 0

ing layers: a 20-nm-thick undoped GaAs layer, a 10-nm-thick 1
undoped In0.13Ga0.87As strained quantum well (QW), an undoped 1.25 1.30 1.35 1.40 1.45 1.50 1.55 1.60
GaAs spacer with thickness d (20, 120, 140 or 220 nm), and a 300- Energy (eV)
nm-thick Ga1-xMnxAs layer with x ˆ 0:045. GaAs and (In,Ga)As
layers were grown at T ˆ 540±580 8C, while the (Ga,Mn)As layer Figure 1 Electrical spin injection in an epitaxially grown ferromagnetic semiconductor
was grown at T ˆ 250 8C. The 4.5% Mn concentration is deter- heterostructure, based on GaAs. a, Spontaneous magnitization develops below the Curie
mined from the lattice constant measured by X-ray diffraction11, temperature TC in the ferromagnetic p-type semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As, depicted by the
and is expected to yield the Curie temperature TC in the range of 40± black arrows in the green layer. Under forward bias, spin-polarized holes from (Ga,Mn)As
90 K with a hole concentration p,1020 cm 2 3 (ref. 12). The easy axis and unpolarized electrons from the n-type GaAs substrate are injected into the (In,Ga)As
of the (Ga,Mn)As magnetization is in the plane of the sample, quantum well (QW, hatched region), through a spacer layer with thickness d, producing
veri®ed by a superconducting quantum interference device polarized EL. b, Total electroluminescence (EL) intensity of the device (d ˆ 20 nm) under
(SQUID) magnetometer11. The (In,Ga)As QW allows us to study forward bias at temperature T ˆ 6 K and magnetic ®eld H ˆ 1;000 Oe is shown (black
the depth of spin injection13, when employed as a ``spin detector'' curve) with its corresponding polarization (red curve). Current I ˆ 1:43 mA. Note that the
placed at various distances from the (Ga,Mn)As layer. The epitaxial polarization is largest at the QW ground state (E ˆ 1:34 eV). The EL and polarization are
wafer was processed into light-emitting devices having 200-mm- plotted on semi-log and linear scales, respectively. Inset, a current±voltage plot
wide mesa stripes de®ned by wet chemical etching after metal characteristic of a 20-nm spacer layer device. Shaded grey area, see Fig. 2.

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© 1999 Macmillan Magazines Ltd NATURE | VOL 402 | 16 DECEMBER 1999 | www.nature.com