R&D: Spin–Orbit Torques of In-Plane Magnetized System Modulated by Spin Transport in Ferromagnetic Co Layer

APL Materials has published an article written by Fen Xue, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA, Shy-Jay Lin, Corporate Research, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Hsinchu 30078, Taiwan, Peng Li, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA, William Hwang, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA, Yen-Lin Huang, Corporate Research, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Hsinchu 30078, Taiwan, Wilman Tsai, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA, and Shan X. Wang, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Abstract: “Spin–orbit torque (SOT) magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) devices have been proposed for energy efficient memory and computing applications. New classes of materials such as antiferromagnets, topological insulators, and semimetals can generate spins with unconventional polarization and improve the efficiency of field-free SOT switching. In this work, we report significant changes in SOTs due to a Co thin film inserted in the Pt/Co/Mg/CoFeB heterostructures. Remarkably, the damping-like effective field has been enhanced by 7.4 times after inserting a thin Co layer with weak perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), while the field-like effective field is reduced to near zero value. Independent characterizations were performed to verify the presence of the changes in SOTs following spin modulation by the Co insertion layer. In addition, we found that the dynamic spin pumping coupling between Pt/Co with weak PMA and the in-plane CoFeB could significantly modulate the effective SOTs in the heterostructure, and this effect is dependent on the thickness of the spacer Mg through long-range spin-wave mediated coupling. Our work has experimentally demonstrated a new avenue to modulate SOTs with physically sputtered metal layers, and this finding is promising to enable flexible and efficient spin polarizations for MRAM devices.“