Ballistic Spin Hall Transistor Using a Heterostructure Channel and Its Application to Logic Devices

In a ballistic spin transport channel, spin Hall and Rashba effects are utilized to provide a gate-controlled spin Hall transistor. A ferromagnetic electrode and a spin Hall probe are employed for spin injection and detection, respectively, in a two-dimensional Rashba system. We utilize the spin current of which polarization direction is controlled by the gate electric field which determines the strength of the Rashba effective field. By observing the spin Hall voltage, spin injection and coherent spin precession are electrically monitored. From the original Datta–Das technique, we measure the channel conductance oscillation as the gate voltage is varied. When the magnetization orientation of the injector is reversed by 180°, the phase of the Datta–Das oscillation shifts by 180° as expected. Depending on the magnetization direction, the spin Hall transistor behaves as an n - or p -type transistor. Thus, we can implement the complementary transistors which are analogous to the conventional complementary metal oxide semiconductor transistors. Using the experimental data extracted from the spin Hall transistor, the logic operation is also presented.