Characterisation of Ferromagnetic Contacts to Carbon Nanotubes

D. Preusche, S. Schmidmeier, E. Pallecchi, Ch. Dietrich, A. K. Huettel, J. Zweck, Ch. Strunk

Published 2009-04-06, updated 2009-08-13Version 2

We present an investigation of different thin-film evaporated ferromagnetic materials for their suitability as electrodes in individual single-wall and multi-wall carbon nanotube-based spin devices. Various electrode shapes made from permalloy (Ni_{81}Fe_{19}), the diluted ferromagnet PdFe, and PdFe/Fe bilayers are studied for both their micromagnetic properties and their contact formation to carbon nanotubes. Suitable devices are tested in low-temperature electron transport measurements, displaying the typical tunneling magnetoresistance of carbon nanotube pseudo spin valves.