Spin–orbit torques in ferrimagnetic Gd/FeCo multilayers

Determination of spin Hall effect and spin diffusion length of Pt from self-consistent fitting of damping enhancement and inverse spin-orbit torque measurements (Conference Presentation)

Topological insulators (TI) possess topologically protected surface conducting states and enormous spin-orbit coupling (SOC) [1,2]. This makes TIs ideal candidates for Spin-Orbit Torque (SOT) based Non-volatile Memory. A TI adjacent to a ferromagnetic (FM) thin film generates SOT on the magnetization in FM [2-5] because of Spin Hall Effect (SHE). SOT in TI/FM (ferromagnet) films have been reported previously with TI films epitaxially grown with MBE [2-5], which is not ideal for industrial complementary metal oxide (CMOS) processes. Although, there have been reports of SOT from sputtered TIs [6-8], effects of crystalline disorder in SOT characteristics have not been extensively studied. We performed magnetic and Spin-Torque Ferromagnetic Resonance (ST-FMR) measurements to investigate the effect of sputtering growth temperature and hence crystalline ordering on SOT characteristics of Bi2Te3 coupled with NiFe (Permalloy) and CoFeB as FM layers. The Bi2Te3/FM heterostructures revealed a steady increase in out of plane (OOP) magnetic anisotropy with the increase in crystalline order of Bi2Te3. Further, STFMR measurements revealed a nonlinear trend in damping-like spin orbit torque with increase in sputtering growth temperature. We believe that at room temperature growth, smaller grain size in Bi2Te3 causes quantum-confinement governed enhancement in SOT [6]. However, a giant enhancement in SOT characteristics is observed for highly crystalline c-axis oriented Bi2Te3 heterostructure where Bi2Te3 was grown at 250 ºC. Our results provide a clear path towards integration of crystalline TI based spintronic devices in industrial CMOS compatible processes.

Large spin hall conductivity in low-symmetry semiconductor ZrSe3

Spin-orbit torque (SOT) has emerged as an effective means of manipulating magnetization. However, the current energy efficiency of SOT operation is inefficient due to low damping-like SOT efficiency per unit current bias. In this work, we dope conventional rare earth oxides, GdOy, into highly conductive platinum by magnetron sputtering to form a new group of spin Hall materials. A large damping-like spin-orbit torque (DL-SOT) efficiency of about 0.35 ± 0.013 is obtained in Pt0.70(GdOy)0.30 measured by the spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) technique, which is about five times that of pure Pt under the same conditions. The substantial enhancement of the spin Hall effect is revealed by theoretical analysis to be attributed to the strong side jump induced by the rare earth oxide GdOy impurities. Moreover, this large DL-SOT efficiency contributes to a low critical switching current density (8.0 × 106 A·cm-2 in the Pt0.70(GdOy)0.30 layer) in current-induced magnetization switching measurements. This systematic study on SOT switching properties suggests that Pt1-x(GdOy)x is an attractive spin current source with large DL-SOT efficiency for future SOT applications and provides another idea to regulate the spin Hall angle.

We demonstrate an anomalous spin-orbit torque induced by the broken magnetic symmetry in the antiferromagnet IrMn. We study the magnetic structure of three phases of IrMn thin films using neutron diffraction technique. The magnetic mirror symmetry M' is broken laterally in both L10-IrMn and L12-IrMn3 but not {\gamma}-IrMn3. We observe an out-of-plane damping-like spin-orbit torque in both L10-IrMn/permalloy and L12-IrMn3/permalloy bilayers but not in {\gamma}-IrMn3/permalloy. This is consistent with both the symmetry analysis on the effects of a broken M' on spin-orbit torque and the theoretical predictions of the spin Hall effect and the Rashba-Edelstein effect. In addition, the measured spin-orbit torque efficiencies are 0.61+-0.01, 1.01+-0.03 and 0.80+-0.01 for the L10, L12 and {\gamma} phases, respectively. Our work highlights the critical roles of the magnetic asymmetry in spin-orbit torque generation.

Spin-transfer torque (STT) and spin-orbit torque (SOT) are spintronic mechanisms allowing magnetization manipulation using electrical currents. Beyond their fundamental interest, they allow envisaging applications to new classes of magnetic memories and logic devices, in particular based on domain wall motion. In the last 10 years the interest of the spintronic community has focused on thin ferromagnetic films deposited on a heavy metal, in which the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) stabilises chiral Néel walls which can be moved by spin orbit torques associated to the spin Hall effect (SHE-SOT). Studies on systems in which domain walls are moved by STT are now rare, mainly because there are practically no reports of efficient STT in thin films with perpendicular magnetisation.A growing interest towards ferrimagnets appeared recently, as the efficiency of the torques is enhanced in the vicinity of magnetization compensation point. In this work, we report the study of current-driven domain wall (DW) dynamics in ferrimagnetic manganese nickel nitride (Mn4-xNixN) films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). The films are deposited on SrTiO3(001) substrates and crystallize in an anti-perovskite structure with two types of Mn atoms: Mn(I) located at the corners and Mn(II) located at the face centered sites. The two magnetic sublattices are antiferromagnetically coupled, with the net magnetization parallel to the Mn(I) moment.In the Mn4N films, neither bulk nor interfacial DMI are present; domain walls have then Bloch internal structure and are driven by the “classical” spin-transfer torque (STT). Our Kerr microscopy measurements showed that, thanks to the large spin polarization of conduction electrons and to the ferrimagnetic structure leading to low spontaneous magnetisation, domain walls in Mn4N can be moved by STT with an unprecedented efficiency [1]. More recently, DW dynamics was also studied in Ni-doped Mn4N films (Mn4-xNixN). Since the Ni moment aligns antiparallel to the net magnetization in Mn4N, the film composition can be finely adjusted to give a magnetisation compensation close to room temperature [2,3]. Films with compositions above and below the compensation composition and net magnetization parallel and antiparallel to that of Mn4N were grown. Close to the compensation point, the reduced angular moment strongly enhances the spin-transfer torque so that domain wall velocities approaching 3000 m/s were measured for a current density of 1.2 x 1012 A/m2. These speeds are comparable with the largest reported for ferrimagnetic films deposited on a heavy metal, where SHE-SOT is the driving mechanism. In addition, while below the compensation point the DWs move in the direction of the electron flow, a reversal of the domain wall motion direction is observed when the magnetic compensation composition is crossed (Figure 1). This striking feature, related to the change of direction of the spin polarization with respect to that of the angular moment, is in agreement with 1D analytical model and explained using ab initio calculations. Our material, composed of abundant elements, and free of critical elements such as cobalt, rare earths and heavy metals, is a promising candidate for the development of sustainable spintronics applications. **

We simulate the switching behavior of nanoscale synthetic antiferromagnets (SAFs), inspired by recent experimental progress in spin-orbit-torque switching of crystal antiferromagnets. The SAF consists of two ferromagnetic thin films with in-plane biaxial anisotropy and interlayer exchange coupling. Staggered field-like Rashba spin-orbit torques from the opposite surfaces of the SAF induce a canted net magnetization, which triggers an orthogonal torque that drives 90° switching of the Néel vector. Such dynamics driven by the field-like spin-orbit torque allows for faster switching with increased Gilbert damping, without a significant detrimental increase of the threshold switching current density. Our results point to the potential of SAFs as model systems, based on simple ferromagnetic metals, to mimic antiferromagnetic device physics.

Ferrimagnetic insulators promise low-power and high-speed spintronic applications, thanks to their insulating nature and fast dynamics near compensation points. In a ferrimagnetic insulator/heavy metal heterostructure, we investigate field- and current-induced magnetization switching at various temperatures and observe distinct magnetization switching behaviors owing to spin–orbit torque (SOT) and heating effect. We have realized SOT switching across the magnetization compensation temperature and discovered that the SOT switching is strongly heat-assisted: the temperature is always above the compensation temperature while the SOT switching happens in our case. Moreover, we show that the SOT efficiency is strongly magnetization-dependent by characterizing the current dependence of SOT efficiency and explaining the anomalous SOT switching back phenomena in the presence of a titled external field. Our results reveal the critical role of Joule heating on the dynamics of magnetic insulators and pave the way for the application of spintronic devices based on magnetic insulators.

Using the linearized Landau–Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation in the rotation coordinate, we calculate the critical switching current density of a perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), where magnetization switching is achieved by the interplay of spin-transfer and spin-orbit torques. In terms of the critical current density, we find that as the current density inducing the spin-orbit torque (jSOT) increases, the current density inducing the spin-transfer torque (jSTT) decreases nonlinearly. In the presence of the spin-orbit field-like torque (β), the critical switching current density by the spin-transfer torque is proportional to the damping constant (α) as the conventional spin-transfer torque switching, while the critical switching current density by the spin-orbit torque increases with α when Heff≫HSOT . We also investigated the β dependence of the critical switching current density. For a given jSOT , the critical switching current density for the spin-transfer torque, jSTT,c decreases linearly with increasing β and nonlinearly decreases with increasing jSOT for a given β. Further, we discuss the β dependence of the critical switching current density on energy.

Spintronics has developed into a growing field with the fabrication of magnetic memories and logic devices. Domain wall motion is a major part of the research in spintronics where spin polarized current is used to move the domain walls by two mechanisms spin tranfer torque(STT) and spin orbit torque(SOT). Compensated ferrimagnets have been in focus recently for their ability to reach the magnetic and angular compensation points. At the angular compensation point, the precessional motion of the local magnetic moment becomes negligible which massively enhances the domain wall velocity near this point[1,2]. In our previous studies, we had shown epitaxially grown ferrimagnet Manganese Nitride(Mn4N) having an anti-perovskite crystal structure with Mn atoms at the corner and the face centre sites while Nitrogen atom in the centre[3]. It has a very low magnetization (71kA/m) and a high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy(PMA) with mm sized domains[3]. Such small magnetization and high PMA is necessary for faster domain wall motion. Such properties led us to observe a very high domain wall velocity of 900 m/s at 1.2*1012 A/m2 [4] using pure STT. Here we report an even larger domain wall velocity of more than 2000 m/s at 1.16*1012 A/m2 using pure adiabatic STT near the magnetic and angular compensation point in epitaxially grown Ni substituted Mn4N nanowires (MnNiN). We also show a very small thresold current density of 1*1011 A/m2. This high speed is comparable to the best velocities obtained by SOT with the assitance of an external in-plane field. In our case, such domain wall velocity is achieved without any external in-plane field, with the sole action of pure current in this single layer system. Addtionally, we also show a reversal in the direction of the domain wall motion after the magnetic compensation point, where the domain walls move in the same direction as the current. We discuss this reversal of the domain wall motion phenomena with the help of DFT calculations.

We characterize the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR), spin Seebeck effect (SSE), and dampinglike spin-orbit torque (SOT) in thulium iron garnet/platinum bilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by using harmonic Hall effect measurements. By consecutive annealing steps followed by measurements on a single device, we reveal that the spin-dependent effects gradually decrease in amplitude as the annealing temperature increases. We attribute this behavior primarily to the changes in the spin-mixing conductance, which sensitively depends on the interface quality. However, further analysis demonstrates that although the SSE scales closely with the SMR, the dampinglike SOT shows a significantly different trend upon annealing, contrary to theoretical expectations. By comparing the dampinglike SOT with the field-induced Hall effect, we found evidence that scattering from Fe impurities in the Pt at the interface might be responsible for the distinct annealing temperature dependence of the dampinglike SOT.

Current-induced spin-orbit torque (SOT) is a very recently discovered phenomenon which provides efficient ways to control and manipulate the magnetization. It allows to use the spin-orbit interaction in the bulk or at the interface of a heavy metal (HM) to inject angular momentum in an adjacent ferromagnet (FM) [1-3]. Even though its origin either from Rashba or spin Hall effects is still under debate, switching the magnetization of nanostructures by spin-orbit torques is very promising for applications both in terms of speed and energetic efficiency. In this work, we study the influence of one of the components of the torques, the field-like torque, for example in Ta/CoFeB/MgO trilayers [4]. This study focuses on the macrospin-based magnetization switching of small devices with a uniform magnetization (50×50 nm2) which are of significant interest for applications.

Magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) is an efficient approach to probe surface magnetization in thin film samples. Here we present a wide-field MOKE technique that adopts a Köhler illumination scheme to characterize the current-induced damping-like spin-orbit torque (DL-SOT) in micron-sized and unpatterned magnetic heterostructures with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Through a current-induced hysteresis loop shift analysis, we quantify the DL-SOT efficiency of a Ta-based heterostructure with bar-shaped geometry, Hall-cross geometry, and unpatterned geometry to be |ξDL| ≈ 0.08. The proposed wide-field MOKE approach therefore provides an instant and direct characterization of DL-SOT, without the need of any further interpretation on electrical signals.

Spin-orbit torque (SOT) has been demonstrated to manipulate the magnetization in various types of heterostructures. Besides the conventional current-induced SOT switching with the assistance of in-plane bias field, field-free SOT switching and memristive SOT switching have also drawn lots of interests due to the possible applications in commercial magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and neuromorphic computing devices. To further decrease power consumption in such devices, most works commit to enhance the SOT efficiency. However, the thermal stability of device is also essential for reliable applications. Especially when SOT devices are integrated with CMOS that the thermal dissipations from transistors can cause significant increase of ambient temperature.In this work, we systematically investigate the SOT efficiencies, thermal stability factors (Δ), and memristive SOT switching behaviors of a standard W/CoFeB/MgO device and a field-free CoFeB/W/CoFeB/MgO device. In both samples, the SOT efficacies are characterized to be constant from 25 °C (298 K) to 80 °C (353 K), where the thermal stability factors (Δ) are slightly degraded as increasing the temperature. The memristive SOT switching behaviors in both systems with various pulse-widths and temperatures are also examined.1 The memristive switching windows are found to shrink at elevated temperatures, which poses the potential challenge of employing SOT devices in realistic neuromorphic applications. Our results suggest that, although the SOT efficacy is robust against thermal effects, the reduction of Δ at elevated temperatures could be detrimental to standard memory as well as neuromorphic (memristive) device applications.2 **

Recently, experimental results have demonstrated that perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (p-MTJ) with the antiferromagnetic(AFM)/ferromagnetic (FM)/oxide structure can achieve field-free spin-orbit torque (SOT) switching since the AFM metal strip can not only generate the SOT, but also provide an exchange bias (HEX), making it suitable for practical applications. However, owing to that the HEX is weak, such field-free SOT switching is incomplete, thus resulting in severe switching reliability. In addition, a large SOT switching current (ISOT) is also required, leading to high switching energy dissipation. In this paper, to address these issues, the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) is introduced to assist the SOT switching, and such novel switching method is referred as voltage-gated SOT (VGSOT). First, we develop a physics-based compact model for the three-terminal VGSOT-MTJ device, which includes three modules, i.e., the electrical module, the tunnel magnetoresistance module and the dynamic switching module. Then, the impact of the VCMA effect on the field-free SOT switching is investigated by solving a modified Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation with consideration of the VCMA, SOT and HEX. Simulation results show that thanks to the introduction of the VCMA effect, the critical ISOT can be reduced greatly, and the incomplete field-free SOT switching can be completed. With further analysis, we obtain a special switching condition, under which complete SOT field-free switching can be achieved with a shortest path and ultra-low power. Moreover, a novel write pulse scheme is proposed to achieve high speed and reliability.