Voltage-controlled ferromagnetism and magnetoresistance in LaCoO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3} heterostructures
A LaCoO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3} heterostructure grown on Si (001) is shown to provide electrically switchable ferromagnetism, a large, electrically tunable magnetoresistance, and a vehicle for achieving and probing electrical control over ferromagnetic behavior at submicron dimensions. Fabrication of devices in a field-effect transistor geometry enables application of a gate bias voltage that modulates strain in the heterostructure via the converse piezoelectric effect in SrTiO{sub 3}, leading to an artificial inverse magnetoelectric effect arising from the dependence of ferromagnetism in the LaCoO{sub 3} layer on strain. Below the Curie temperature of the LaCoO{sub 3} layer, this effect leads to modulation of resistance in LaCoO{sub 3} as large as 100%, and magnetoresistance as high as 80%, both of which arise from carrier scattering at ferromagnetic-nonmagnetic interfaces in LaCoO{sub 3}. Finite-element numerical modeling of electric field distributions is used to explain the dependence of carrier transport behavior on gate contact geometry, and a Valet-Fert transport model enables determination of spin polarization in the LaCoO{sub 3} layer. Piezoresponse force microscopy is used to confirm the existence of piezoelectric response in SrTiO{sub 3} grown on Si (001). It is also shown that this structure offers the possibility of achieving exclusive-NOR logic functionality within a single device.