First-principles study of persistent spin helix on OH-terminated diamond, Si, and Ge surfaces

The stability and reduced chemical reactivity of semiconductors largely depend on their surface termination methods. Surface termination studies have been conducted on semiconductors like Si [1], Ge [2], and diamond [3] surfaces. Theoretically, terminating the diamond surface using hydroxyl (OH) exhibited the persistent spin helix with its spin-orbit coupling value, α_PSH, of 14.2 meV・Å [4]. On the other side, terminating the diamond surface by using hydrogen produced the Rashba spin splitting with α_R of 3.6 meV・Å [4]. These findings steer our study to explore the effects of OH termination on the electronic properties of other group IV semiconductors, specifically Si and Ge surfaces, emphasizing their spin-orbit coupling properties to identify alternative materials suitable for spintronic device applications.



Reference

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[4] H. P. Kadarisman, N. Yamaguchi, and F. Ishii, Appl. Phys. Express 16, 023001 (2023).