Ferromagnetic HfO2/Si/GaAs interface for spin-polarimetry applications

In this letter, we present electrical and magnetic characteristics of HfO2-based metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPs), along with the effect of pseudomorphic Si as a passivating interlayer on GaAs(001) grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Ultrathin HfO2 high-k gate dielectric films (3-15 nm) have been grown on Si/GaAs(001) structures through evaporation of a Hf/HfO2 target in NO2 gas. The lowest interface states density D-it at Au/HfO2/Si/GaAs(001) MOS-structures were obtained in the range of (6 - 13) x 10(11) eV(-1) cm(-2) after annealing in the 400-500 degrees C temperature range as a result of HfO2 crystallization and the Si layer preservation in non-oxidized state on GaAs. HfO2-based MOSCAPs demonstrated the ferromagnetic properties which were attributed to the presence of both cation and anion vacancies according to the first-principle calculations. Room-temperature ferromagnetism in HfO2 films allowed us to propose a structure for the ferromagnetic MOS spin-detector. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.