Fast, low-current spin-orbit torque switching of magnetic tunnel junctions through atomic modifications of the free layer interfaces

Abstract

Future applications of spin-orbit torque will require new mechanisms to improve the efficiency for switching nanoscale magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), while also controlling the magnetic dynamics to achieve fast, nanosecond scale performance with low write error rates. Here we demonstrate a strategy to simultaneously enhance the interfacial magnetic anisotropy energy and suppress interfacial spin memory loss by introducing sub-atomic and monatomic layers of Hf at the top and bottom interfaces of the ferromagnetic free layer of an in-plane magnetized three-terminal MTJ device. When combined with a beta-W spin Hall channel that generates spin-orbit torque, the cumulative effect is a switching current density of 5.4 x 106 A/cm2, more than a factor of 3 lower than demonstrated in any other spin-orbit-torque magnetic memory device at room temperature, and highly reliable switching with current pulses only 2 ns long.

References in corpus (5)

• Nanosecond-timescale low error switching of in-plane magnetic tunnel junctions through dynamic Oersted-field assisted spin-Hall effect
• Enhancement of the Anti-Damping Spin Torque Efficacy of Platinum by Interface Modification
• On the origin of field-like spin-orbit torques in heavy metal-ferromagnet-oxide thin film heterostructures
• Nanosecond magnetization dynamics during spin Hall switching of in-plane magnetic tunnel junctions
• Strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy density at Fe alloy/HfO2 interfaces

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