Vertically Graded Fe-Ni Alloys with Low Damping and a Sizeable Spin-Orbit Torque

Abstract

Energy-efficient spintronic devices require a large spin-orbit torque (SOT) and low damping to excite magnetic precession. In conventional devices with heavy-metal/ferromagnet bilayers, reducing the ferromagnet thickness to $\sim$1 nm enhances the SOT but dramatically increases damping. Here, we investigate an alternative approach based on a 10 nm thick single-layer ferromagnet to attain both low damping and a sizable SOT. Instead of relying on a single interface, we continuously break the bulk inversion symmetry with a vertical compositional gradient of two ferromagnetic elements: Fe with low intrinsic damping and Ni with sizable spin-orbit coupling. We find low effective damping parameters of ${\alpha }_{\mathrm{eff}}<5\times 10^{-3}$ in the FeNi alloy films, despite the steep compositional gradients. Moreover, we reveal a sizable anti-damping SOT efficiency of $|{\theta }_{\mathrm{DL}}|\approx 0.05$, even without an intentional compositional gradient. Through depth-resolved x-ray diffraction, we identify a lattice strain gradient as crucial symmetry breaking that underpins the SOT. Our findings provide fresh insights into damping and SOTs in single-layer ferromagnets for power-efficient spintronic devices.

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Asymmetric defect distribution generates bulk Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in Pt/Co/Pt