Purely Antiferromagnetic Magnetoelectric Random Access Memory

Abstract

Magnetic random access memory schemes employing magnetoelectric coupling to write binary information promise outstanding energy efficiency. We propose and demonstrate a purely antiferromagnetic magnetoelectric random access memory (AF-MERAM) that offers a remarkable 50 fold reduction of the writing threshold compared to ferromagnet-based counterparts, is robust against magnetic disturbances and exhibits no ferromagnetic hysteresis losses. Using the magnetoelectric antiferromagnet Cr2O3, we demonstrate reliable isothermal switching via gate voltage pulses and all-electric readout at room temperature. As no ferromagnetic component is present in the system, the writing magnetic field does not need to be pulsed for readout, allowing permanent magnets to be used. Based on our prototypes of these novel systems, we construct a comprehensive model of the magnetoelectric selection mechanism in thin films of magnetoelectric antiferromagnets. We identify that growth induced effects lead to emergent ferrimagnetism, which is detrimental to the robustness of the storage. After pinpointing lattice misfit as the likely origin, we provide routes to enhance or mitigate this emergent ferrimagnetism as desired. Beyond memory applications, the AF-MERAM concept introduces a general all-electric interface for antiferromagnets and should find wide applicability in purely antiferromagnetic spintronics devices.

Main text (4 figures) + supplementary information (7 figures)

References in corpus (10)

• Antiferromagnetic spintronics
• High-sensitivity diamond magnetometer with nanoscale resolution
• Electrical switching of an antiferromagnet
• A robust, scanning quantum system for nanoscale sensing and imaging
• Room-temperature antiferromagnetic memory resistor
• Robust isothermal electric switching of interface magnetization: A route to voltage-controlled spintronics
• Electric-field control of spin waves at room temperature in multiferroic BiFeO3
• Fabrication of all diamond scanning probes for nanoscale magnetometry
• Realtime magnetic field sensing and imaging using a single spin in diamond
• Equilibrium magnetization at the boundary of a magnetoelectric antiferromagnet

Cited by in corpus (72)

• Antiferromagnetic spintronics
• Probing condensed matter physics with magnetometry based on nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond
• Photoferroelectric oxides
• How to manipulate magnetic states of antiferromagnets
• Dynamics of the antiferromagnetic skyrmion induced by a magnetic anisotropy gradient
• Nanoscale mechanics of antiferromagnetic domain walls
• Antiferromagnetic magnons as highly squeezed Fock states underlying quantum correlations
• Gilbert damping phenomenology for two-sublattice magnets
• Tutorial: Nonlinear magnonics
• Tuning interfacial spins in antiferromagnetic / ferromagnetic / heavy metal heterostructures via spin-orbit torque
• Nanomagnetism of magnetoelectric granular thin-film antiferromagnets
• Large spin Hall magnetoresistance in antiferromagnetic α-Fe2O3/Pt heterostructures
• Negative spin Hall magnetoresistance in antiferromagnetic Cr2O3/Ta bilayer at low temperature region
• Evolution of the Spin Hall Magnetoresistance in Cr${}_2$O${}_3$/Pt bilayers close to the Néel temperature
• Co-existence of Bloch and Neel walls in a collinear antiferromagnet
• Nanoscale Sensing Using Point Defects in Single-Crystal Diamond: Recent Progress on Nitrogen Vacancy Center-Based Sensors
• Quantum Sensing of Spin Transport Properties of an Antiferromagnetic Insulator
• Enhancement of superconductivity mediated by antiferromagnetic squeezed magnons
• Symmetry analysis of current-induced switching of antiferromagnets
• Observation of current-induced switching in non-collinear antiferromagnetic IrMn${}_3$ by differential voltage measurements
• Spin splitting induced in a superconductor by an antiferromagnetic insulator
• Voltage control of magnon spin currents in antiferromagnetic Cr2O3
• Magneto-Seebeck microscopy of domain switching in collinear antiferromagnet CuMnAs
• Influence of strain and chemical substitution on the magnetic anisotropy of antiferromagnetic Cr${}_2$O${}_3$: an ab-initio study
• Dynamic imaging of an antiferromagnetic domain wall via quantum-impurity relaxometry
• Low-energy magnetoelectric control of domain states in exchange-coupled heterostructures
• Nanoscale imaging of antiferromagnetic domains in epitaxial films of Cr2O3 via scanning diamond magnetic probe microscopy
• Magnetoelectric control of topological phases in graphene
• Nanoscale magnetic domains in polycrystalline Mn3Sn films imaged by a scanning single-spin magnetometer
• Antiferromagnetic insulatronics: spintronics in insulating 3d metal oxides with antiferromagnetic coupling
• Scanning nitrogen-vacancy center magnetometry in large in-plane magnetic fields
• Current Advances in Magnetoelectric Composites with Various Interphase Connectivity Types
• Observation of a charge-neutral muon-polaron complex in antiferromagnetic Cr${}_2$O${}_3$
• Colossal linear magnetoelectricity in polar magnet Fe2Mo3O8
• Topological Surface Magnetism and Neel Vector Control in a Magnetoelectric Antiferromagnet
• Anomalous Hall-like transverse magnetoresistance in Au thin films on Y${}_3$Fe${}_5$O${}_{12}$
• Hidden orders and (anti-)Magnetoelectric Effects in Cr${}_2$O${}_3$ and $\alpha$-Fe${}_2$O${}_3$
• Local and nonlocal spin Seebeck effect in lateral Pt-$\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{r}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$-Pt devices at low temperatures
• Giant pressure dependence and dimensionality switching in a metal-organic quantum antiferromagnet
• Dynamics of Magnetoelectric Reversal of Antiferromagnetic Domain
• Order parameter dynamics in Mn${}_3$Sn driven by DC and pulsed spin-orbit torques
• Surface-symmetry-driven Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya interaction and canted ferrimagnetism in collinear magnetoelectric antiferromagnet Cr${}_2$O${}_3$
• Antiferromagnetic multi-level memristor using linear magnetoelectricity
• SMART: Secure Magnetoelectric AntifeRromagnet-Based Tamper-Proof Non-Volatile Memory
• Critical behavior of sputter-deposited magnetoelectric antiferromagnetic Cr${}_2$O${}_3$ films near Néel temperature
• Imprint from ferromagnetic skyrmions in an antiferromagnet via exchange bias
• Antiferromagnetic helix as an efficient spin polarizer: Interplay between electric field and higher ordered hopping
• Disclosing antiferromagnetism in tetragonal Cr2O3 by electrical measurements
• The domain-wall motion driven by a rotating field in a ferrimagnet
• Anomalous Hall effect in antiferromagnetic/non-magnetic interfaces
• Magnetic parity violation and parity-time-reversal-symmetric magnets
• Uniaxial Néel Vector Control in Perovskite Oxide Thin Films by Anisotropic Strain Engineering
• Thermal Contribution in the Electrical Switching Experiments with Heavy Metal / Antiferromagnet Structures
• Control of field- and current-driven magnetic domain wall motion by exchange-bias in Cr2O3/Co/Pt trilayers
• Interface probe for antiferromagnets using geometric curvature
• On the origin of noncollinear magnetization coupling across RuX layers
• Multi-Angle Reconstruction of Domain Morphology with All-Optical Diamond Magnetometry
• Origin of spin reorientation transitions in antiferromagnetic MnPt-based alloys
• Spin orbit torque switching of antiferromagnet through the Neel reorientation in rare-earth ferrite
• Thermoelectric phenomena in an antiferromagnetic helix: Role of electric field
• Dynamics of domain walls in curved antiferromagnetic wires
• Canted Antiferromagnetism in Polar MnSiN${}_2$ with High Néel Temperature
• Reversal Time of Jump-Noise Dynamics for Large Nucleation
• A coupled magneto-structural continuum model for multiferroic ${\mathrm{BiFeO}}_3$
• Antiferromagnetic nanoscale bit arrays of magnetoelectric Cr${}_2$O${}_3$ thin films
• Gating effects in antiferromagnetic CuMnAs
• Post deposition interfacial Néel temperature tuning in magnetoelectric B:Cr2O3
• Quadratic magnetoelectric effect during field cooling in sputter grown Cr${}_2$O${}_3$ films
• Vector Potential and Surface Magnetic Field in Magnetoelectric Antiferromagnetic Materials
• Magnetic Structure and dielectric properties of antiferromagnetic FeCrO3
• Magnetically Ordered Insulators for Advanced Spintronics
• MERAM: Non-Volatile Cache Memory Based on Magneto-Electric FETs