Ohio State University researchers have combined traditional inorganic semiconductors with organic spintronics, in a device claimed to be the first of its kind.
For the demonstration, the researchers used the organic magnet made from vanadium tetracyanoethylene, a polymer under development by Professor Arthur Epstein at the University, who last year demonstrated data storage and retrieval from a plastic spintronic device.
Now Dr Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin and his team at Ohio State have incorporated the plastic device into a GaAs circuit.
"In order to build a practical spintronic device, you need a material that is both semiconducting and magnetic at room temperature. To my knowledge, Art's organic materials are the only ones that do that," said Johnston-Halperin.
Spin-polarised current from a circuit in the plastic material was transmitted through the GaAs and into a LED as proof that the organic and inorganic parts were working together.
"The light was indeed polarised, indicating polarisation of the incoming electrons," said the University. "The fact that they were able to measure the electrons' polarisation with the LED also suggests that other researchers can use this same technique to test spin in other organic systems."
Fabrication involved building the GaAs part in a conventional fab, then adding the organic circuit at lower temperature.
"You could ask, why didn't we go with all organics, then?" asked Johnston-Halperin. "Well, the reality is that industry already knows how to make devices out of inorganic materials. That expertise and equipment is already in place. If we can just get organic and inorganic materials to work together, then we can take advantage of that existing infrastructure to move spintronics forward right away."
He added that this is a fundamental science demonstration, and much work will need to be done before hybrid spintronics can be manufactured.
"Hybrid structures promise functionality that no other materials, neither organic nor inorganic, can currently achieve alone," he said.
The work has been published on line in the journal Physical Review Letters,