Nanosecond-timescale low error switching of in-plane magnetic tunnel junctions through dynamic Oersted-field assisted spin-Hall effect

Abstract

We investigate fast-pulse switching of in-plane-magnetized magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) within 3-terminal devices in which spin-transfer torque is applied to the MTJ by the giant spin Hall effect. We measure reliable switching, with write error rates down to $10^{-5}$, using current pulses as short as just 2 ns in duration. This represents the fastest reliable switching reported to date for any spin-torque-driven magnetic memory geometry, and corresponds to a characteristic time scale that is significantly shorter than predicted possible within a macrospin model for in-plane MTJs subject to thermal fluctuations at room temperature. Using micromagnetic simulations, we show that in the 3-terminal spin-Hall devices the Oersted magnetic field generated by the pulse current strongly modifies the magnetic dynamics excited by the spin-Hall torque, enabling this unanticipated performance improvement. Our results suggest that in-plane MTJs controlled by Oersted-field-assisted spin-Hall torque are a promising candidate for both cache memory applications requiring high speed and for cryogenic memories requiring low write energies.

To appear in Nano Letters October 2016 print issue as cover article

References in corpus (1)

• Enhancement of the Anti-Damping Spin Torque Efficacy of Platinum by Interface Modification

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