Nonlinearity and hysteresis in longitudinal current transport in CoSi/GaAs alloy layers deposited from laser plasma

The electron transport properties of nanosized CoSi alloy layers deposited at a lowered temperature (350°C) from laser plasma onto single-crystalline gallium arsenide have been studied. An asymmetry of the current-voltage characteristic (CVC) in the longitudinal current transport in such layers has been found, which indicates the spin polarization of charge carriers, and a substantial (up to 18%) nonlinearity and a hysteresis (up to 4%) have been revealed both at room temperature and at 77 K for comparatively low current densities (up to 5 × 10 4 A/cm 2 ). In repeated cycles of CVC measurements at 77 K, irreversible changes in the properties of the layers have been observed.