Planar Structure Optimization of Extraordinary Magnetoresistance in Semiconductor–Metal Hybrids

• DOI: 10.1007/s10948-014-2537-9
• Publication Date: 2014-04-10T04:14:57Z
• Authors: Tiantian Huang; Lingyun Ye; Kaichen Song; Fucheng Deng
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy

The performance of extraordinary magnetoresistance (EMR) depends on the material parameters, hybrid structure design, contacts configuration, and manufacturing technology. In this paper, we pay close attention to the hybrid structure of the EMR device. A semiconductor–metal hybrid model based on the finite element method (FEM) is constructed to study the EMR effect, and the results show good agreement with the experimental data. The analysis of the van der Pauw plate structure indicates that the relationship between the two voltage probe contacts and the different EMR structures is the key factor to the design optimization. Accordingly, we find that the elliptic inclusion configurations improve the performance of the van der Pauw structure of EMR devices within a wide range of applied magnetic field (0–5 T). The bar-type and multibranched inclusion structures are subsequently optimized based on this principle. The new structures show excellent performance; more specifically, the modified multibranched inclusion structure displays a 2-fold increase in the magnetoresistance at 0.1 T and more than 2-order-of-magnitude increase at 5 T when compared with the original structure.