Author(s): Bekele, ZA (Bekele, Zelalem Abebe); Lan, XK (Lan, Xiukai); Meng, KK (Meng, Kangkang); Liu, XH (Liu, Xionghua)
Source: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS Volume: 127 Issue: 11 Article Number: 113902 DOI: 10.1063/1.5135626 Published: MAR 21 2020
Abstract: We investigated field-free current-induced perpendicular magnetization switching in Pt/Co/AlOx/Co/Ta structures by varying the thickness of an insulating spacer layer. A field-free spin-orbit torque switching is realized through the antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) between the bottom and top Co layers or by premagnetizing the top Co layer. Significant variations in magnetic and electrical properties are ascribed to thickness dependent IEC by changing the insulating spacer layer from 1.0 to 1.9 nm. When the thickness of the spacer layer is 1.6 nm, we found the strongest IEC field of about 300Oe and optimal field-free current-induced magnetization switching. Micromagnetic simulation validates the existence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) effect and the chirality of the domain wall configuration in the stack structures, and the field-free deterministic magnetization switching is mainly induced from DMI and IEC fields. Published under license by AIP Publishing.
Accession Number: WOS:000521302400001
ISSN: 0021-8979
eISSN: 1089-7550
Full Text: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5135626