Micromagnetic Simulation of Strain-Assisted Current-Induced Magnetization Switching

Spin–orbit torques (SOTs) are known to be the most efficient way to manipulate the magnetization direction by electrical currents. While, conventionally, one symmetry component of the SOTs, namely, the damping-like torque, was considered to play a primary role, recently, the significance of the other component, the field-like torque, has been revised, owing to the non-trivial dynamics it can induce in heavy metal/ferromagnet multilayers. In this work, we first discuss the unusual behavior of the field-like SOT in a Ta/CoFeB/Ta/MgO multilayer system with a reduced magnetic anisotropy and demonstrate an energy-efficient approach to manipulate the magnitude of the SOT effective fields. Finally, our results show a possibility to engineer the anisotropy of the field-like SOTs by piezoelectric strain, which can be potentially attractive for application in spintronics.

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Impact of the interplay of piezoelectric strain and current-induced heating on the field-like spin–orbit torque in perpendicularly magnetized Ta/Co20Fe60B20/Ta/MgO film

Filianina

Wang

Baldrati

et al. 2021

Applied Physics Letters

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Voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy-based spintronic devices for magnetic memory applications: Challenges and perspectives

Mishra,

Sravani,

Bose

et al. 2024

Journal of Applied Physics

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Electronic spins provide an additional degree of freedom that can be used in modern spin-based electronic devices. Some benefits of spintronic devices include nonvolatility, energy efficiency, high endurance, and CMOS compatibility, which can be leveraged for data processing and storage applications in today's digital era. To implement such functionalities, controlling and manipulating electron spins is of prime interest. One of the efficient ways of achieving this in spintronics is to use the electric field to control electron spin or magnetism through the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect. VCMA avoids the movement of charges and significantly reduces the Ohmic loss. This article reviews VCMA-based spintronic devices for magnetic memory applications. First, we briefly discuss the VCMA effect and various mechanisms explaining its physical origin. We then mention various challenges in VCMA that impede it for practical VCMA-based magnetic memory. We review various techniques to address them, such as field-free switching operation, write error rate improvement, widening the operation window, enhancing the VCMA coefficient, and ensuring fast-read operation with low read disturbance. Finally, we draw conclusions outlining the future perspectives.

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Electric-Field Control of Spin-Orbit Torques in Perpendicularly Magnetized W/CoFeB/MgO Films

et al. 2020

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Controlling magnetism by electric fields offers a highly attractive perspective for designing future generations of energy-efficient information technologies. Here, we demonstrate that the magnitude of current-induced spin-orbit torques in thin perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB films can be tuned and even increased by electric field generated piezoelectric strain. Using theoretical calculations, we uncover that the subtle interplay of spin-orbit coupling, crystal symmetry, and orbital polarization is at the core of the observed strain dependence of spin-orbit torques. Our results open a path to integrating two energy efficient spin manipulation approaches, the electric field-induced strain and the current-induced magnetization switching, thereby enabling novel device concepts.

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Micromagnetic Simulation of Strain-Assisted Current-Induced Magnetization Switching

Cited by 3 publications

References 53 publications

Impact of the interplay of piezoelectric strain and current-induced heating on the field-like spin–orbit torque in perpendicularly magnetized Ta/Co20Fe60B20/Ta/MgO film

Impact of the interplay of piezoelectric strain and current-induced heating on the field-like spin–orbit torque in perpendicularly magnetized Ta/Co20Fe60B20/Ta/MgO film

Voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy-based spintronic devices for magnetic memory applications: Challenges and perspectives

Electric-Field Control of Spin-Orbit Torques in Perpendicularly Magnetized W/CoFeB/MgO Films

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