Organic Spintronics: The First Decade and Beyond

The field of organic spintronics gained momentum since the last decade where the motivation was mainly to explore the advantage of low spin orbit and hyperfine coupling strengths of organic semiconductors for achieving long spin diffusion length and time in the spintronic devices. Initial years saw both promising results and substantial challenges of fabricating high quality devices showing giant and tunneling magnetoresistance and reproducibility of the device performance. However, recent years witnessed a more promising route for organic semiconductor based spintronic components through molecular engineering at the inorganic-organic interface. A high degree of spin polarization was reported from such interfaces that lead to term them as “spinterface”. Also modified interfacial magnetism is being reported by different groups that can eventually lead to tailoring of device properties at the first molecular level. The chapter discusses the progress of the field in the last decade in terms of spin valves and magnetic tunnel junction performances, introduction of new materials and device architectures for improved spin injection and transport, significant challenges in terms of low performance of the devices at room temperature, reproducibility, speed and the more recent route towards controlling spins at the single molecule level. Finally the chapter discusses the future prospects for improved molecule based spintronic components for future memory, sensor and logic operations.