Giant bulk spin-orbit torque and efficient electrical switching in single ferrimagnetic FeTb layers with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Abstract

Efficient manipulation of antiferromagnetically coupled materials that are integration-friendly and have strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) is of great interest for low-power, fast, dense magnetic storage and computing. Here, we report a distinct, giant bulk damping-like spin-orbit torque in strong-PMA ferrimagnetic Fe100-xTbx single layers that are integration-friendly (composition-uniform, amorphous, sputter-deposited). For sufficiently-thick layers, this bulk torque is constant in the efficiency per unit layer thickness, ξ_DL^j/t, with a record-high value of 0.036nm-1, and the dampinglike torque efficiency ξ_DL^j achieves very large values for thick layers, up to 300% for 90 nm layers. This giant bulk torque by itself switches tens of nm thick Fe100-xTbx layers that have very strong PMA and high coercivity at current densities as low as a few MA/cm2. Surprisingly, for a given layer thickness, ξ_DL^j shows strong composition dependence and becomes negative for composition where the total angular momentum is oriented parallel to the magnetization rather than antiparallel. Our findings of giant bulk spin torque efficiency and intriguing torque-compensation correlation will stimulate study of such unique spin-orbit phenomena in a variety of ferrimagnetic hosts. This work paves a promising avenue for developing ultralow-power, fast, dense ferrimagnetic storage and computing devices.

arXiv commentTo appear in Applied Physics Reviews

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Switching of Perpendicular Magnetization by Spin-Orbit Torque
• Strong variation of spin-orbit torques with relative spin relaxation rates in ferrimagnets
• Strong Spin-Orbit Torque Induced by the Intrinsic Spin Hall Effect in Cr1-xPtx
• Current-induced perpendicular effective magnetic field in magnetic heterostructures
• Boosting spin-orbit torque efficiency in spin-current generator/magnet/oxide superlattices
• Single-layer spin-orbit-torque magnetization switching due to spin Berry curvature generated by minute spontaneous atomic displacement in a Weyl oxide
• Microscopic mechanisms of Strong Electron Scattering and Giant Anomalous Hall Effect in high-Curie-temperature Fe3GaTe2 van der Waals Films
• Vertically Graded Fe-Ni Alloys with Low Damping and a Sizeable Spin-Orbit Torque
• Linear Enhancement of Spin-Orbit Torques and Absence of Bulk Rashba-Type Spin Splitting in Perpendicularly Magnetized [Pt/Co/W]n Superlattices
• Giant coercivity, resistivity upturn, and anomalous Hall effect in ferrimagnetic FeTb
• A Two-Field-Scan Harmonic Hall Voltage Analysis For Fast, Accurate Quantification Of Spin-Orbit Torques In Magnetic Heterostructures
• Spin current symmetries generated by GdFeCo ferrimagnet across its magnetisation compensation temperature