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Field-free switching of perpendicular magnetization through spin–orbit torque in antiferromagnet/ferromagnet/oxide structures

Nature Nanotechnology volume 11, pages 878–884 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Spin–orbit torques arising from the spin–orbit coupling of non-magnetic heavy metals allow electrical switching of perpendicular magnetization. However, the switching is not purely electrical in laterally homogeneous structures. An extra in-plane magnetic field is indeed required to achieve deterministic switching, and this is detrimental for device applications. On the other hand, if antiferromagnets can generate spin–orbit torques, they may enable all-electrical deterministic switching because the desired magnetic field may be replaced by their exchange bias. Here we report sizeable spin–orbit torques in IrMn/CoFeB/MgO structures. The antiferromagnetic IrMn layer also supplies an in-plane exchange bias field, which enables all-electrical deterministic switching of perpendicular magnetization without any assistance from an external magnetic field. Together with sizeable spin–orbit torques, these features make antiferromagnets a promising candidate for future spintronic devices. We also show that the signs of the spin–orbit torques in various IrMn-based structures cannot be explained by existing theories and thus significant theoretical progress is required.

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Figure 1: The sign of spin–orbit torques and field-free switching in the Ta(5 nm)/IrMn(9 nm)/CoFeB/MgO sample.
Figure 2: Field-free spin–orbit torque switching in the Ta(5 nm)/CoFeB(3 nm)/IrMn(3 nm)/CoFeB/MgO sample.
Figure 3: Field-free spin–orbit torque switching in the Ta(5 nm)/CoFeB(3 nm)/Ta(3 nm)/CoFeB/MgO samples.
Figure 4: The sign of spin–orbit torque in the Ta(5 nm)/Ti(5 nm)/IrMn(5 nm)/Ti(tTi)/CoFeB/MgO samples.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge R. D. McMichael, M. D. Stiles, J. McClelland, and S.-B. Choe for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by Creative Materials Discovery Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2015M3D1A1070465). Further financial support from the NRF was provided to B.-G.P. (NRF-2014R1A2A1A11051344), K.-J.L. (NRF-2013R1A2A2A01013188), H.-W.L. (NRF-2013R1A2A2A05006237) and J-R.J. (NRF-2013R1A2A2A01067144). B.-C.M. was awarded financial support from the KIST institutional programme (2E26380).

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Author notes

  1. Young-Wan Oh and Seung-heon Chris Baek: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering and KI for Nanocentury, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Korea

    Young-Wan Oh, Seung-heon Chris Baek, Y. M. Kim, Hae Yeon Lee, Kyeong-Dong Lee & Byong-Guk Park

  2. School of Electrical Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Korea

    Seung-heon Chris Baek

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Korea

    Chang-Geun Yang, Ki-Seung Lee, Gyungchoon Go & Kyung-Jin Lee

  4. Center for Spintronics, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, 02792, Korea

    Chang-Geun Yang, Eun-Sang Park & Byoung-Chul Min

  5. KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Korea

    Eun-Sang Park & Kyung-Jin Lee

  6. PCTP and Department of Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, 37673, Korea

    Kyoung-Whan Kim & Hyun-Woo Lee

  7. Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, 20899, Maryland, USA

    Kyoung-Whan Kim

  8. Maryland Nanocenter, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742, Maryland, USA

    Kyoung-Whan Kim

  9. Basic Science Research Institute, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, 37673, Korea

    Kyoung-Whan Kim

  10. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Energy Science Technology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, 34134, Korea

    Jong-Ryul Jeong

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  1. Young-Wan Oh
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Contributions

B.-G.P. and K.-J.L. planned and supervised the study. Y.-W.O. and S.-H.C.B. fabricated the devices with help from Y.M.K., H.Y.L. and C.-G.Y. Y.-W.O. and S.-H.C.B. measured spin–orbit torques with help from K.-D.L., E.-S.P., B.-C.M., K.-S.L. and J.-R.J. K.-W.K., G.G., H.-W.L., K.-J.L. and B.-G.P. analysed the results. K.-J.L. and B.-G.P. wrote the manuscript with the help of Y.M.K., K.-W.K. and H.-W.L.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kyung-Jin Lee or Byong-Guk Park.

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Oh, YW., Chris Baek, Sh., Kim, Y. et al. Field-free switching of perpendicular magnetization through spin–orbit torque in antiferromagnet/ferromagnet/oxide structures. Nature Nanotech 11, 878–884 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.109

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