Spin-valve transistor formed on GaAs [001] substrate

A spin-valve transistor with an epitaxial Fe/Au/Fe [001] base was formed on nGaAs, of which the transfer ratio was 10/sup -3/ at 3 V with more than 100% magnetocurrent ratio. Both bottom and upper Fe layers show the uniaxial anisotropy with easy magnetization axis along [110], although the contribution of cubic anisotropy with [100] easy axis cannot be neglected for the upper Fe layer. Possibility of applying spin-valve transistors to read heads in the high-density magnetic recording is discussed.