0000000000222145
AUTHOR
T. A. Moore
Spin orbit torque switching in Ta/CoFeB/MgO without longitudinal fields
Intense investigations are carried out on novel magnetic materials systems with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), where new spin-orbit effects occur due to structural inversion asymmetry (SIA). So called spin-orbit torques (SOTs), have been observed for the first time in PMA nano-structures with SIA, when an electric current is injected [1-3], leading to ultra-efficient current-induced domain wall motion and current-induced magnetization switching [2,3].
Evidence for phonon skew scattering in the spin Hall effect of platinum
We measure and analyze the effective spin Hall angle of platinum in the low-residual resistivity regime by second-harmonic measurements of the spin-orbit torques for a multilayer of $\mathrm{Pt}|\mathrm{Co}|{\mathrm{AlO}}_{x}$. An angular-dependent study of the torques allows us to extract the effective spin Hall angle responsible for the damping-like torque in the system. We observe a strikingly nonmonotonic and reproducible temperature dependence of the torques. This behavior is compatible with recent theoretical predictions which include both intrinsic and extrinsic (impurities and phonons) contributions to the spin Hall effect at finite temperatures.
Role of phonon skew scattering in the spin Hall effect of platinum
We measure and analyze the effective spin Hall angle of platinum in the low residual resistivity regime by second harmonic measurements of the spin-orbit torques for a multilayer of Pt/Co/AlO$_x$. An angular dependent study of the torques allows us to extract the effective spin Hall angle responsible for the damping-like torque in the system. We observe a strikingly non-monotonic and reproducible temperature dependence of the torques. This behavior is compatible with recent theoretical predictions which include both intrinsic and extrinsic (impurities and phonons) contributions to the spin Hall effect at finite temperature.
Spin-orbit torque-driven magnetization switching and thermal effects studied in Ta\CoFeB\MgO nanowires
We demonstrate magnetization switching in out-of-plane magnetized Ta\CoFeB\MgO nanowires by current pulse injection along the nanowires, both with and without a constant and uniform magnetic field collinear to the current direction. We deduce that an effective torque arising from spin-orbit effects in the multilayer drives the switching mechanism. While the generation of a component of the magnetization along the current direction is crucial for the switching to occur, we observe that even without a longitudinal field thermally generated magnetization fluctuations can lead to switching. Analysis using a generalized N\'eel-Brown model enables key parameters of the thermally induced spin-orbi…
Role of B diffusion in the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction inTa/Co20Fe60B20/MgOnanowires
We report on current-induced domain wall motion in $\mathrm{Ta}/\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{o}}_{20}\mathrm{F}{\mathrm{e}}_{60}{\mathrm{B}}_{20}/\mathrm{MgO}$ nanowires. Domain walls are observed to move against the electron flow when no magnetic field is applied, while a field along the nanowires strongly affects the domain wall motion velocity. A symmetric effect is observed for up-down and down-up domain walls. This indicates the presence of right-handed domain walls, due to a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) with a DMI coefficient $D=+0.06\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mJ}/{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$. The positive DMI coefficient is interpreted to be a consequence of B diffusion into the Ta bu…