The basis of organic spintronics: Fabrication of organic spin valves

Organic spintronics focuses on utilizing the spin degree of freedom in organic materials because of the long spin relaxation time. The vertical organic spin valve (OSV) is a typical sample structure used to study the spin transport phenomena. However, the fabrication of high quality OSVs is difficult, which results in controversial experiment results and hence hinders the development of organic spintronics. In this work, we describe our recent study on the fabrication of typical vertical organic spin valves, La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ (LSMO)/Alq₃/Co. The LSMO bottom electrodes are annealed to obtain an atomically smooth surface and improved magnetic properties. The top Co electrodes are deposited by an indirect deposition method to reduce the interfusion between Co and Alq₃. The controlled fabrication process provides much better performance and sample yield of OSVs. (topical review — magnetism, magnetic materials, and interdisciplinary research)