Electrical injection and detection of spin-polarized electrons in silicon through an Fe3Si/Si Schottky tunnel barrier

We demonstrate electrical injection and detection of spin-polarized electrons in silicon (Si) using epitaxially grown Fe3Si/Si Schottky-tunnel-barrier contacts. By an insertion of a delta-doped n(+)-Si layer (similar to 10(19) cm(-3)) near the interface between a ferromagnetic Fe3Si contact and a Si channel (similar to 10(15) cm(-3)), we achieve a marked enhancement in the tunnel conductance for reverse-bias characteristics of the Fe3Si/Si Schottky diodes. Using laterally fabricated four-probe geometries with the modified Fe3Si/Si contacts, we detect nonlocal output signals that originate from the spin accumulation in a Si channel at low temperatures.