Patent ID: 7037807

Claim:
A device for injecting spin-polarized current into a current output terminal comprising: a semiconductor structure comprising; a first end and an opposite second end disposed along the direction of a first axis, and a third end disposed along the direction of a second axis perpendicular to the first axis; a first electrode formed on the first end of the semiconductor structure; a second electrode formed on the second end of the semiconductor structure, wherein the first and second electrodes are disposed to receive an applied electric field; and a third electrode being the current output terminal formed on the third end of the semiconductor structure, the third electrode providing the spin-polarized current when an electric field is applied across the first and second electrodes, wherein the semiconductor structure comprises a hole-doped semiconductor structure or an undoped zero-gap semiconductor structure and further comprises a semiconductor material whose spin orbit coupling energy is greater than room temperature (300 Kelvin) times the Boltzmann constant.