title: Magnetic-field-sensing materials composed of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures.
abstract: A huge positive magnetoresistance effect, about 4 orders of magnitude at room temperature, was discovered in metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures. The hybrid material consisting of metallic nanostructures that are fabricated on a GaAs substrate by ultra-high vacuum deposition method exhibits magnetic field-sensitive current-voltage characteristics. When a constant voltage above the threshold value, is applied to the film, a very steep change in the current, which we term magnetoresistive switch, is driven by the huge magnetoresistance effect under a relatively low magnetic field at room temperature. The magnetoresistance effect is very sensitive to the nanoscale morphology of the hybrid film; in other words, one can control the magnetoresistance function at will by modifying the nanostructure of this material. The origin of the magnetoresistive switch effect and its possible application as a magnetic field sensor is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Research Consortium for Synthetic Nano-Function Materials Project (SYNAF), Nanotechnology Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), AIST Tsukuba Central 4, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8562, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akinaga
mesh_terms: D004560:Electricity; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D012666:Semiconductors
chemical_list: D008670:Metals