Field-free spin-orbit torque switching through domain wall motion

Abstract

Deterministic current-induced spin-orbit torque (SOT) switching of magnetization in a heavy transition metal/ferromagnetic metal/oxide magnetic heterostructure with the ferromagnetic layer being perpendicularly-magnetized typically requires an externally-applied in-plane field to break the switching symmetry. We show that by inserting an in-plane magnetized ferromagnetic layer CoFeB underneath the conventional W/CoFeB/MgO SOT heterostructure, deterministic SOT switching of the perpendicularly-magnetized top CoFeB layer can be realized without the need of in-plane bias field. Kerr imaging study further unveils that the observed switching is mainly dominated by domain nucleation and domain wall motion, which might limit the potentiality of using this type of multilayer stack design for nanoscale SOT-MRAM application. Comparison of the experimental switching behavior with micromagnetic simulations reveals that the deterministic switching in our devices cannot be explained by the stray field contribution of the in-plane magnetized layer, and the roughness-caused Néel coupling effect might play a more important role in achieving the observed field-free deterministic switching.

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• All-electrical switching of a topological non-collinear antiferromagnet at room temperature
• Growth-dependent Interlayer Chiral Exchange and Field-free Switching
• Pulse-width and Temperature Dependence of Memristive Spin-Orbit Torque Switching
• All-Linear Multistate Magnetic Switching Induced by Electrical Current
• Anatomy of Type-X Spin-Orbit Torque Switching
• A comparison of two different mechanisms for deterministic spin orbit torque magnetization switching