Electric-field control of magnetism via strain transfer across ferromagnetic/ferroelectric interfaces

Abstract

By taking advantage of the coupling between magnetism and ferroelectricity, ferromagnetic (FM)/ferroelectric (FE) multiferroic interfaces play a pivotal role in manipulating magnetism by electric fields. Integrating the multiferroic heterostructures into spintronic devices significantly reduces energy dissipation from Joule heating because only an electric field is required to switch the magnetic element. New concepts of storage and processing of information thus can be envisioned when the electric-field control of magnetism is a viable alternative to the traditional current based means of controlling magnetism. This article reviews some salient aspects of the electric-field effects on magnetism, providing a short overview of the mechanisms of magneto-electric (ME) coupling at the FM/FE interfaces. A particular emphasis is placed on the ME effect via interfacial magneto-elastic coupling arising from strain transfer from the FE to FM layer. Recent results that demonstrate the electric-field control of magnetic anisotropy, magnetic order, magnetic domain wall motion, and etc are described. Obstacles that need to be overcome are also discussed for making this a reality for future device applications.

Local twin domains and tip-voltage-induced domain switching of monoclinicMCphase inPb(Mg1/3Yang1, Luo2, Sun3 et al. 2016Phys. Rev. B163140View full textAdd to dashboardCite

“…What's more, because of the ferroelastic property, the non-180º switching of ferroelectric domains will be accompanied with strain variation. The domain switching paths under electric-field in the single crystal with M phase will be more diversified due to the complexity of domain structure, which makes it attractive to the application in the strain-transfer-based multiferroic heterostructure and the related devices [30][31][32][33][34]. Therefore, in order to understand the domain contribution and to use it better, the switching process of the domains of the M phase should be investigated [35][36][37][38].…”

Magnetization Reversal in Fe/BaTiO3(110) Heterostructured Multiferroics

“…Most importantly, FM/FEs provide a great opportunity for manipulating the magnetic properties by an electric field, which is an alternative approach beyond the traditional electric/spin current control of magnetism . The novel idea of electric field controlled magnetism opens the pathway to realizing electronic/spintronic devices that are made compact in size and with ultra‐low power consumption . Many of these devices require the magnetization to retain after removing the applied field, postulating a controllable 180° magnetization switching.…”

“…[6,7] The novel idea of electric field controlled magnetism opens the pathway to realizing electronic/spintronic devices that are made compact in size and with ultra-low power consumption. [8] Many of these devices require the magnetization to retain after removing the applied field, postulating a controllable 180 magnetization switching. In spite of significant progress made in this direction, the robust magnetization switching is still a challenging issue.…”

“…A vibrating sample magnetometer was used to measure the in-plane magnetization as a function of magnetic field orientation and temperature. Magnetization curves (M-H) were collected for various magnetic field orientations with respect to [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] pc axis of BTO at 293, 230, and 175 K that corresponds to the tetragonal (T), orthorhombic (O) and rhombohedral (R) phases of BTO, respectively. The in-plane temperature dependent magnetization (M-T) data were collected in the temperature range of 150-325 K in applied magnetic fields of 20 and À35 Oe along [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] pc and [-111] pc directions of BTO, respectively.…”

“…Magnetization curves (M-H) were collected for various magnetic field orientations with respect to [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] pc axis of BTO at 293, 230, and 175 K that corresponds to the tetragonal (T), orthorhombic (O) and rhombohedral (R) phases of BTO, respectively. The in-plane temperature dependent magnetization (M-T) data were collected in the temperature range of 150-325 K in applied magnetic fields of 20 and À35 Oe along [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] pc and [-111] pc directions of BTO, respectively. Electric field (E) dependence of in-plane M-H loops was measured at 293 K with the magnetic field along [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] pc and E along [110] pc using magneto-optical Kerr magnetometry.…”