Authors: Dmitri Osintsev, Oskar Baumgartner, Zlatan Stanojevic, Viktor Sverdlov, Siegfried Selberherr
Spintronics attracts at present much interest because of the potential to build novel spin-based devices which are superior to nowadays charge-based devices. Utilizing spin properties of electrons opens great opportunities to reduce device power consumption in future electronic circuits. Silicon, the main element of microelectronics, is also promising for spin-driven applications. Understanding the details of the spin propagation in silicon structures is a key for novel spin- based applications. We investigate the surface roughness induced spin relaxation in a silicon-on- insulator-based spin field-effect transistors for various parameters including the potential barrier at the interfaces, the film thickness, and shear strain. Shear strain dramatically influences the spin opening a new opportunity to boost spin lifetime in a silicon spin field- effect transistor.