Springer Spintronics: From Materials to Devices

Spintronics is an emerging technology exploiting the spin degree of freedom and has proved to be very promising for new types of fast electronic devices. Amongst the anticipated advantages of spintronics technologies, researchers have identified the non-volatile storage of data with high density and low energy consumption as particularly relevant. This monograph examines the concept of half-metallic compounds perspectives to obtain novel solutions and discusses several oxides such as perovskites, double perovskites and CrO2 as well as Heusler compounds. Such materials can be designed and made with high spin polarization and, especially in the case of Heusler compounds, many material-related problems present in current-day 3d metal systems, can be overcome. Spintronics: From Materials to Devices provides an insight into the current research on Heusler compounds and offers a general understanding of structure–property relationships, including the influence of disorder and correlations on the electronic structure and interfaces. Spintronics devices such as magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) devices, with current perpendicular to the plane, in which Co2 based Heusler compounds are used as new electrode materials, are also introduced. From materials design by theoretical methods and the preparation and properties of the materials to the production of thin films and devices, this monograph represents a valuable guide to both novices and experts in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, and Materials Science. From the Back Cover Spintronics is an emerging technology exploiting the spin degree of freedom and has proved to be very promising for new types of fast electronic devices. Amongst the anticipated advantages of spintronics technologies, researchers have identified the non-volatile storage of data with high density and low energy consumption as particularly relevant. This monograph examines the concept of half-metallic compounds perspectives to obtain novel solutions and discusses several oxides such as perovskites, double perovskites and CrO2 as well as Heusler compounds. Such materials can be designed and made with high spin polarization and, especially in the case of Heusler compounds, many material-related problems present in current-day 3d metal systems, can be overcome. Spintronics: From Materials to Devices provides an insight into the current research on Heusler compounds and offers a general understanding of structure–property relationships, including the influence of disorder and correlations on the electronic structure and interfaces. Spintronics devices such as magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) devices, with current perpendicular to the plane, in which Co2 based Heusler compounds are used as new electrode materials, are also introduced. From materials design by theoretical methods and the preparation and properties of the materials to the production of thin films and devices, this monograph represents a valuable guide to both novices and experts in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, and Materials Science. About the Author CLAUDIA FELSERClaudia Felser studied chemistry and physics at the University of Cologne and completed her doctorate in physical chemistry there in 1994. After postdoctoral fellowships at the MPI in Stuttgart and the CNRS in Nantes (France), she joined the University of Mainz. She was a visiting scientist at Princeton University (USA) in 1999 and at Stanford University in 2009/2010 and a visiting professor at the University of Caen (France). She became a full professor at the University of Mainz in 2003. Dec, 2011 she will become director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids. She is the chair of the DFG research group “New Materials with High Spin Polarization” and is the director of the Graduate School of Excellence “Materials Science in Mainz” of the German Science