Spin-based electronics, or spintronics, has generated a great deal of interest as a possible next-generation integrated circuit technology. Recent experimental and theoretical work has shown that these devices could exhibit increased processing speed, decreased power consumption, and increased integration densities as compared with conventional semiconductor devices. The spintronic device that was designed, fabricated, and tested throughout the course of this work aimed to study the generation of spin-polarized currents in semiconductors using magnetic fringe fields. The device scheme relied on the Zeeman effect in combination with a quantum mechanical barrier to generate spin-polarized currents. The Zeeman effect was used to break the degeneracy of spin-up and spin-down electrons and the quantum mechanical potential to transmit one while rejecting the other. The design was dictated by the drive to maximize the strength of the magnetic fringe field and in turn maximize the energy separation of the two spin species. The device was fabricated using advanced techniques in semiconductor processing including electron beam lithography and DC magnetron sputtering. Measurements were performed in a ³He cryostat equipped with a superconducting magnet at temperatures below 300 mK.

Preliminary characterization of the device revealed magnetoconductance oscillations produced by the effect of the transverse confining potential on the density of states and the mobility. Evidence of the effect of the magnetic fringe fields on the transport properties of electrons in the device were observed in multiple device measurements. An abrupt washout of the quantized conductance steps was observed over a minute range of the applied magnetic field. The washout was again observed as electrons were shifted closer to the magnetic gates. In addition, bias spectroscopy demonstrated that the washout occurred despite stronger electron confinement, as compared to a non-magnetic split-gate. Thus, the measurements indicated that conductance quantization breaks down in a non-uniform magnetic field, possibly due to changes to the stationary Landau states. It was also demonstrated that non-integer conductance plateaus at high source-drain bias are not caused by a macroscopic asymmetry in the potential drop.