A Giant Tunneling Electroresistance Effect Driven by Electrically Controlled Spin Valve at a Complex Oxide Interface

Authors

John D. Burton, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

Tsymbal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6728-5526

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2011

Citation

Physical Review Letters (2011) 106: 157203

doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.157203

Comments

Copyright © 2011, American Physical Society. Used by permission

Abstract

A giant tunneling electroresistance effect may be achieved in a ferroelectric tunnel junction by exploiting the magnetoelectric effect at the interface between the ferroelectric barrier and a magnetic La_1-xSr_xMnO₃ electrode. Using first-principles density-functional theory we demonstrate that a few magnetic monolayers of La_1-xSr_xMnO₃ near the interface act, in response to ferroelectric polarization reversal, as an atomic-scale spin valve by filtering spin-dependent current. This produces more than an order of magnitude change in conductance, and thus constitutes a giant resistive switching effect.