Progress in Fe3O4-centered spintronic systems: development, architecture, and features

Abstract

Spintronics, or spin-based electronics, is a rapidly growing multidisciplinary research area in the development of physical mechanisms based on the spin as well as the charge of an electron. The initial phase of spintronics had a significant influence on the information storage technology sector after the invention of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in magnetic multilayers of two different transition metals. In contrast, the next phase of spintronics relies on amalgamating magnetic and semiconducting components to improve electronic gadgets. Spin effects have long been studied in traditional ferromagnetic substances, but research into spin production, relaxation, and spin–orbit relationships in non-magnetic materials has only recently started. The introduction of hybrid spintronic materials and design has created exciting possibilities. This article discusses the recent advancements in the research and development of a variety of Fe3O4-based hybrid spintronic structures based on the half-metallicity and other remarkable capabilities of magnetite (Fe3O4), especially thin-film architectures on traditional, two-dimensional (2D) carbon materials, flexible polymer substrates, and nanocomposites. Half-metallic hybrid systems exhibit strong spin polarity at Fermi energies, whereas 2D structures have exceptional electronic band structures such as Dirac cones and the valley degree of freedom. Massive improvements have been attained in synthesizing and unleashing modern patterns and features from atomic configurations and the heterointerfaces of the epitaxially developed hybrid systems for spintronics. Spin-insertion and recognition, including 2D carbon materials such as graphene and transitional-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), which are potentially leafy due either to the long spin-life, or the strong spin–orbit coupling, are the most recent areas of increased research interest. Semiconducting matter in groups-IV, III-V, and II-VI, and their nanoscale forms, is another area of great interest. In contrast, using the self-template (ST) approach combined with epitaxial growth of Fe3O4 thin films through any of the physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques on flexible polymer substrates have triggered the field of wearable and implantable spintronics.