14
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Magnetization switching by spin-orbit torque in an antiferromagnet/ferromagnet bilayer system

      Preprint

      Read this article at

          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Spin-orbit torque (SOT)-induced magnetization switching shows promise for realizing ultrafast and reliable spintronics devices. Bipolar switching of perpendicular magnetization via SOT is achieved under an in-plane magnetic field collinear with an applied current. Typical structures studied so far comprise a nonmagnet/ferromagnet (NM/FM) bilayer, where the spin Hall effect in the NM is responsible for the switching. Here we show that an antiferromagnet/ferromagnet (AFM/FM) bilayer system also exhibits a SOT large enough to switch the magnetization of FM. In this material system, thanks to the exchange-bias effect of the AFM, we observe the switching under no applied field by using an antiferromagnetic PtMn and ferromagnetic Co/Ni multilayer with a perpendicular easy axis. Furthermore, tailoring the stack achieves a memristor-like behaviour where a portion of the reversed magnetization can by controlled in an analogue manner. The AFM/FM system is thus a promising building block for SOT devices as well as providing an attractive pathway towards neuromorphic computing.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          10.1038/nmat4566
          1507.00888
          http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/

          Condensed matter
          Condensed matter

          Comments

          Comment on this article