0000000000424863
AUTHOR
Jürgen Langer
Enhancing domain wall velocity through interface intermixing in W-CoFeB-MgO films with perpendicular anisotropy
We study the influence of He+ irradiation induced interface intermixing on magnetic domain wall (DW) dynamics in W-CoFeB (0.6 nm)-MgO ultrathin films, which exhibit high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and large Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) values. Whereas the pristine films exhibit strong DW pinning, we observe a large increase in the DW velocity in the creep regime upon He+ irradiation, which is attributed to the reduction of pinning centers induced by interface intermixing. Asymmetric in-plane field-driven domain expansion experiments show that the DMI value is slightly reduced upon irradiation, and a direct relationship between DMI and interface anisotropy is demonstrated. …
Spin–orbit torque driven multi-level switching in He + irradiated W–CoFeB–MgO Hall bars with perpendicular anisotropy
We have investigated the spin–orbit torque-driven magnetization switching in W/CoFeB/MgO Hall bars with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. He+ ion irradiation through a mask has been used to reduce locally the effective perpendicular anisotropy at a Hall cross. Anomalous Hall effect measurements combined with Kerr microscopy indicate that the switching process is dominated by domain wall (DW) nucleation in the irradiated region followed by rapid domain propagation at a current density as low as 0.8 MA/cm2 with an assisting in-plane magnetic field. Thanks to the implemented strong pinning of the DW at the transition between the irradiated and the non-irradiated region, an intermediate Hall r…
Tuning of interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and domain structures in magnetic thin film multilayers
We investigate the magnetic domain structures and the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) arising in CoFeB films interfaced with selected heavy metal (HM) layers with large spin Hall angles in HM/CoFeB/MgO (HM = W, Pt, Pd, W x Ta1−x ) stacks as a function of CoFeB thickness and composition for both as-deposited and annealed materials stacks. The coercivity and the anisotropy fields of annealed material stacks are higher than for the as-deposited stacks due to crystallisation of the ferromagnetic layer. Generally a critical thickness of MgO > 1 nm provides adequate oxide formation at the top interface as a requirement for the generation of PMA. We demonstrate that in stacks with Pt as th…