Theory of digital magnetoresistance in ferromagnetic resonant-tunneling diodes

Abstract

We propose a ferromagnetic spintronic system, which consists of two serial connected resonant-tunneling diodes. One diode is nonmagnetic whereas the other comprises a ferromagnetic emitter and quantum well. Using a self-consistent coherent transport model we show that the current-voltage characteristic of the ferromagnetic diode can be strongly modulated by changing the relative orientation of the magnetizations in the emitter and quantum well, respectively. By a continuous change of the relative magnetization angle the total resistance exhibits a discrete jump realizing digital magnetoresistance. The interplay between the emitter's Fermi energy level and the relative magnetization orientations allows to tailor the current voltage characteristics of the ferromagnetic diode from ohmic to negative differential resistance regime at low voltages.