Large magnetoresistance in Heusler-alloy-based epitaxial magnetic junctions with semiconducting Cu(In0.8Ga0.2)Se2 spacer

We investigated the structure and magneto-transport properties of magnetic junctions using a Co2Fe(Ga0.5Ge0.5) Heusler alloy as ferromagnetic electrodes and a Cu(In0.8Ga0.2)Se2 (CIGS) semiconductor as spacers. Owing to the semiconducting nature of the CIGS spacer, large magnetoresistance (MR) ratios of 40% at room temperature and 100% at 8 K were obtained for low resistance-area product (RA) values between 0.3 and 3 Ω μm2. Transmission electron microscopy observations confirmed the fully epitaxial growth of the chalcopyrite CIGS layer, and the temperature dependence of RA indicated that the large MR was due to spin dependent tunneling.