Fabrication of molecular spin devices with ferromagnetic electrodes coupled with a high spin molecule is an important challenge. This doctoral study concentrated on realizing a novel molecular spin device by the bridging of magnetic molecules between two ferromagnetic metal layers of a ferromagnetic-insulator-ferromagnetic tunnel junction on its exposed pattern edges. At the exposed sides, distance between the two metal electrodes is equal to the insulator film thickness; insulator film thickness can be precisely controlled to match the length of a target molecule. Photolithography and thin-film deposition were utilized to produce a series of tunnel junctions based on molecular electrodes of multilayer edge molecular electrodes (MEME) for the first time. In order to make a microscopic tunnel junction with low leakage current to observe the effect of ~10,000 molecules bridged on the exposed edge of a MEME tunnel barrier, growth conditions were optimized; stability of a ~2nm alumina insulator depended on its ability to withstand process-induced mechanical stresses. The conduction mechanism was primarily 1) tunneling from metal electrode to oranometalic core by tunneling through alkane tether that acts as a tunnel barrier 2) rapid electron transfer within the oranometalic Ni-CN-Fe cube and 3) tunneling through alkane tether to the other electrode. Well defined spin-states in the oranometalic Ni-CN-Fe cube would determine electron spin-conduction and possibly provide a mechanism for coupling.
MEME with Co/NiFe/AlOx/NiFe configurations exhibited dramatic changes in the transport and magnetic properties after the bridging of oranometalic molecular clusters with S=6 spin state. The molecular cluster produced a strong antiferromagnetic coupling between two ferromagnetic electrodes to the extent, with a lower bound of 20 erg/cm,2 that properties of individual magnetic layers changed significantly at RT. Magnetization, ferromagnetic resonance and magnetic force microscopy studies were performed. Transport studies of this configuration of MEME exhibited molecule-induced current suppression by ~6 orders by blocking both molecular channels and tunneling between metal leads in the planar 25μm2 tunnel junction area. A variety of control experiments were performed to validate the current suppression observation, especially critical due to observed corrosion in electrochemical functionalization step. The spin devices were found to be sensitive to light radiation, temperature and magnetic fields.
Along with the study of molecular spin devices, several interesting ideas such as ~9% energy efficient ultrathin TaOx based photocell, simplified version of MEME fabrication, and chemical switching were realized. This doctoral study heralds a novel molecular spin device fabrication scheme; these molecular electrodes allow the reliable study of molecular components in molecular transport.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uky.edu/oai:uknowledge.uky.edu:gradschool_diss-1617 |
| Date | 01 January 2008 |
| Creators | Tyagi, Pawan |
| Publisher | UKnowledge |
| Source Sets | University of Kentucky |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations |
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