Room-Temperature Electron Spin Transport in a Highly Doped Si Channel

We report on the first demonstration of generating a spin current and spin transport in a highly doped Si channel at room temperature (RT) using a four-terminal lateral device with a spin injector and a detector consisting of an Fe/MgO tunnel barrier. Spin current was generated using a nonlocal technique, and spin injection signals and Hanle-type spin precession were successfully detected at 300 K, thus proving spin injection with the elimination of spurious signals. The spin diffusion length and its lifetime at RT were estimated to be 0.6 mu m and 1.3 ns by the Hanle-type spin precession, respectively. (C) 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics