Subband splitting and surface roughness induced spin relaxation in (0 0 1) silicon SOI MOSFETs

Properties of semiconductors provided by the electron spin are of broad interest because of their potential for future spin-driven microelectronic devices. Silicon is the main element of modern charge-based electronics, thus, understanding the details of the spin propagation in silicon structures is key for novel spin-based device application. We use a generalized perturbative k · p approach to take the spin degree of freedom into consideration. We investigate (0 0 1) oriented SOI films for various parameters including the film thickness, the band offset, and strain. We demonstrate that shear strain dramatically influences the intersubband spin relaxation matrix elements opening a new opportunity to boost spin lifetime in SOI MOSFETs.

► We investigate numerically the subband splitting and the surface roughness matrix elements in (001) oriented SOI films. ► We use a generalized perturbativek · p approach to include the spin degree of freedom. ► We demonstrate that shear strain dramatically influences the intersubband spin relaxation matrix elements.