Driving a spin‐logic circuit requires the production of a large output signal by spin‐charge interconversion in spin‐orbit readout devices. This should be possible by using topological insulators, which are known for their high spin‐charge interconversion efficiency. However, high‐quality topological insulators have so far only been obtained on a small scale, or with large scale deposition techniques that are not compatible with conventional industrial deposition processes. The nanopatterning and electrical spin injection into these materials have also proven difficult due to their fragile structure and low spin conductance. The fabrication of a spin‐orbit readout device from the topological insulator Sb2Te3 deposited by large‐scale industrial magnetron sputtering on SiO2 is presented. Despite a modification of the Sb2Te3 layer structural properties during the device nanofabrication, a sizeable output voltage is measured that can be unambiguously ascribed to a spin‐charge interconversion process. The results pave the way for the integration of layered van der Waals materials in spin‐logic devices.

Spin-orbit torques (SOTs) have opened a novel way to manipulate the magnetization using in-plane current, with a great potential for the development of fast and low power information technologies. It has been recently shown that two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) appearing at oxide interfaces provide a highly efficient spin-to-charge current interconversion. The ability to manipulate 2DEGs using gate voltages could offer a degree of freedom lacking in the classical ferromagnetic/spin Hall effect bilayers for spin-orbitronics, in which the sign and amplitude of SOTs at a given current are fixed by the stack structure. Here, we report the non-volatile electric-field control of SOTs in an oxide-based Rashba-Edelstein 2DEG. We demonstrate that the 2DEG is controlled using a back-gate electric-field, providing two remanent and switchable states, with a large resistance contrast of 1064%. The SOTs can then be controlled electrically in a non-volatile way, both in amplitude and in sign. This achievement in a 2DEG-CoFeB/MgO heterostructures with large perpendicular magnetization further validates the compatibility of oxide 2DEGs for magnetic tunnel junction integration, paving the way to the advent of electrically reconfigurable SOT MRAMS circuits, SOT oscillators, skyrmion and domain-wall-based devices, and magnonic circuits.

No abstract