Spin Lifetime Enhancement by Shear Strain in Thin Silicon-On-Insulator Films

Spintronics attracts at present much interest because of the potential to build novel spin-based devices which are superior to nowadays charge-based microelectronic elements. Utilizing spin properties of electrons opens great opportunities to reduce device power consumption in future electronic circuits. Silicon, the main element of microelectronics, is promising for spin-driven applications. Understanding the details of the spin propagation in silicon structures is a key for building novel spin-based nanoelectronic devices. We investigate the influence of shear strain on surface roughness induced spin relaxation in a thin silicon-on-insulator-based transistor. Shear strain dramatically influences the spin, which opens a new opportunity to boost spin lifetime in a silicon spin field-effect transistor.