Investigation of Electronic and Transport Properties of Zigzag Aluminium Nitride Nanoribbon for Magnetoresistive Devices using Selective Edge Chlorination

Abstract

In this work, the utility of Zigzag Aluminium Nitride Nanoribbons (ZAlNNR) for voltage-controlled magnetoresistive devices is investigated using the DFT-NEGF approach. Based on energy calculations and magnetic moment analysis, it is proposed that selective edge chlorination of ZAlNNR leads to the magnetic ground state (AFM). To examine the impact of electrode magnetization on transport properties, the $I-V$ curve is calculated for parallel and antiparallel spin orientation of the electrodes. For parallel cases, spin-filtering efficiency (SFE) is calculated, which is $100\%$ at various voltages, and also observe negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior. In the antiparallel case, it is observed that both finite transmission and zero transmission regions for variable bias voltage. Hence, an oscillatory current behavior is observed in this case. Finally, magnetoresistance (MR) is calculated in both spin-up and spin-down cases, which is of the order of ${10}^{27}$ at $0.1V$ (for spin-up configuration). Such large values of SFE and MR make it an appropriate choice for spin filter/voltage-controlled magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs).