The spin dynamics at the interface between the CoFeB and Ta layer has been studied using spin pumping and spin wave characterizations. The spin pumping driven by the ferromagnetic resonance in the CoFeB layer injects a spin current into Ta layer which results in an electromotive force across the Ta layer due to the inverse spin Hall effect. Upon changing the polarity of the bias magnetic field, the polarity of the output voltage inverts and the output voltage increases linearly in respect to the microwave signal power which are consistent with the spin pumping characteristics. The effect of the in-plane magnetization angle on the output voltage has been studied. Furthermore, it is found that the frequency spectrum of the spin Hall voltage is modified by the annealing temperature and the full width at half maximum of the spin pumping increases by more than 40% with the increase of the annealing temperature from 200 °C to 300 °C. The spin Hall angle at the Ta-CoFeB interface is determined to be 0.014, and the damping constant of the CoFeB increases from 0.006 in pure CoFeB to 0.015 in Ta/CoFeB film.

We experimentally demonstrated magnetoresistance (MR) read of dipole coupled nanomagnets using magnetic tunnel junctions. The MR allowed the magnetic state of individual nanomagnets to be electrically measured. The sensitivity of the read scheme enabled a systematic study regarding the nanomagnet spacing and revealed a transition in behavior. Below a spacing of 15 nm the dipole field overcomes the individual shape anisotropy and redefines the individual element easy axis along the direction transmission line. The demonstration of MR electrical read marks a significant step forward for applications such as magnetic quantum cellular automata logic devices.

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We experimentally demonstrated spin transfer torque (STT) programming of dipole coupled nanomagnets using magnetic tunnel junctions. The STT write operations were performed in conjunction with a clock field used in magnetic quantum cellular automata (MQCA) operations. The spacing and number of nanomagnets in the transmission line strongly affected the STT programming of the individual pillars. These MQCA transmission lines ranged in length from 2 elements to 20 elements, while device sizes ranged between 50 nm × 80 nm and 70 nm × 100 nm with spacing between 10 nm and 15 nm. With the application of the clock field, currents of 100-200 μA are sufficient to STT program the device. The demonstration of STT programming of individual nanomagnets in a dipole coupled array marks a significant step forward for applications such as MQCA logic device.