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Room-temperature magnetoresistance in an all-antiferromagnetic tunnel junction

Nature volume 613, pages 485–489 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Antiferromagnetic spintronics1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 is a rapidly growing field in condensed-matter physics and information technology with potential applications for high-density and ultrafast information devices. However, the practical application of these devices has been largely limited by small electrical outputs at room temperature. Here we describe a room-temperature exchange-bias effect between a collinear antiferromagnet, MnPt, and a non-collinear antiferromagnet, Mn3Pt, which together are similar to a ferromagnet–antiferromagnet exchange-bias system. We use this exotic effect to build all-antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions with large nonvolatile room-temperature magnetoresistance values that reach a maximum of about 100%. Atomistic spin dynamics simulations reveal that uncompensated localized spins at the interface of MnPt produce the exchange bias. First-principles calculations indicate that the remarkable tunnelling magnetoresistance originates from the spin polarization of Mn3Pt in the momentum space. All-antiferromagnetic tunnel junction devices, with nearly vanishing stray fields and strongly enhanced spin dynamics up to the terahertz level, could be important for next-generation highly integrated and ultrafast memory devices7,9,16.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of an AATJ.
Fig. 2: Exchange coupling between a collinear antiferromagnet and a non-collinear antiferromagnet.
Fig. 3: AATJ devices operated at room temperature.
Fig. 4: Theoretical calculations of the TMR for AATJs.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

Code availability

All of the simulation codes in this paper are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Z.L. and C.J. acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 52121001). Z.L. acknowledges financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 52271235). J.Z. acknowledges financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 12174129). Z.Z. acknowledges financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 11974379) and the cooperation project of Vacuum Interconnect Nano X Research Facility (Nano-X) of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (D21008).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Peixin Qin, Han Yan, Xiaoning Wang, Hongyu Chen, Ziang Meng

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China

    Peixin Qin, Han Yan, Xiaoning Wang, Hongyu Chen, Ziang Meng, Zexin Feng, Xiaorong Zhou, Li Liu, Tianli Zhang, Chengbao Jiang & Zhiqi Liu

  2. School of Physics and Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Jianting Dong, Meng Zhu & Jia Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory of Multifunctional Nanomaterials and Smart Systems, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, China

    Jialin Cai & Zhongming Zeng

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  1. Peixin Qin
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Contributions

P.Q., H.Y., X.W., H.C., Z.M., Z.F., X.Z., L.L. and T.Z. performed the sample preparation and structural, magnetic and electrical measurements. J.D., M.Z. and J.Z. performed theoretical calculations. J.C. and Z.Z. fabricated the nanoscale devices. This project was conceived, led, coordinated and guided by Z.L. and C.J. The manuscript was written by Z.L.

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Correspondence to Zhongming Zeng, Jia Zhang, Chengbao Jiang or Zhiqi Liu.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 Exchange bias at various temperatures and different thicknesses of MnPt for a Mn3Pt/MnPt/MAO bilayer heterostructure.

a, Normalized anomalous Hall resistivity of Mn3Pt(5 nm)/MnPt(t nm)/MAO bilayer heterostructures measured at room temperature. b, Coercivity and exchange bias fields extracted from a. c, Normalized anomalous Hall resistivity of the Mn3Pt(5 nm)/MnPt(10 nm)/MAO heterostructure from 10 to 300 K. d, Coercivity and exchange bias fields extracted from c.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Simulated Néel temperatures for Mn3Pt and MnPt thin films.

a, Simulated Néel temperatures for different values of effective FM exchange interaction J2 for Mn3Pt with the first nearest neighbour interaction J1 = −4.192 × 10−21 J. b, Simulated Néel temperature for MnPt with J1 = −6.4 × 10−21 J and J2 = 4.38 × 10−21 J.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Simulated out-of-plane magnetic hysteresis loops of Mn3Pt thin film using various values of kN (Néel pair anisotropy constant between the nearest Mn-Pt pairs) and film thicknesses.

a, Hysteresis loops of a Mn3Pt thin film of 1.73 nm thickness with various values of kN. b, Hysteresis loops of Mn3Pt film using a fixed kN = 1 × 10−25 J with different film thicknesses. c, Schematics of spin configurations under different magnetic fields. The equilibration state represents the ground state. d, Spin and crystal structures of non-collinear Mn3Pt under different states.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Exchange bias simulation for a MnPt/Mn3Pt bilayer system.

a, Interfacial spin model for simulating the exchange bias. b, Simulated exchange bias between collinear MnPt and non-collinear Mn3Pt for different interfacial exchange interaction Jint values. c, Simulated exchange bias between collinear MnPt and non-collinear Mn3Pt with Jint = 6.67 × 10−23 J.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Simulation of the increased coercivity for the exchange-biased Mn3Pt/MnPt bilayer system.

a, Interface spin model for exchange bias simulation by considering reversible and irreversible uncompensated interfacial spins. b, Simulated exchange bias between collinear MnPt and non-collinear Mn3Pt.

Extended Data Fig. 6 Temperature-dependent magnetization and resistance area product.

a, Normalized out-of-plane magnetization for the two Mn3Pt layers in a Mn3Pt/MgO/Mn3Pt/MnPt/MAO multilayer heterostructure without nano-fabrication at different temperatures. b, Temperature-dependent resistance area product for the parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP) states of an AATJ device.

Extended Data Fig. 7 Bias voltage dependence of TMR.

Bias dependence of TMR for an AATJ device measured at 300 and 10 K with bias voltages ranging over ±200 mV.

Extended Data Fig. 8 Theoretical simulation for the band structures and Fermi surfaces of Mn3Pt under different spin configurations.

a, Atomic and simulated spin configurations of Mn3Pt under positive and negative saturation magnetic fields. b, Corresponding band structures and spin expectation values <σx>, <σy> and <σz> for Mn3Pt. The colour scale for the spin values is shown on the right. c, Three typical Fermi surfaces and spin expectation values with spin configurations of bulk Mn3Pt under positive saturation magnetic field. The colour scale indicates the magnitude of spin. All the first-principles calculations were conducted in the absence of magnetic field, and only the spin configurations under positive and negative saturation magnetic fields were considered.

Extended Data Fig. 9 Theoretical calculations of Bloch states and Fermi surface for Mn3Pt.

a, The number of available Bloch states (conduction channels) in the 2D Brillouin zone of Mn3Pt. The colour bar alongside scales the available Bloch states. b, Top view of the 3D Fermi surface of Mn3Pt along the [001] direction visualized using the Xcrysden package50.

Extended Data Fig. 10 Theoretical calculations of TMR in AATJs with different barrier layers.

a, Atomic structures of Mn3Pt/MgO/Mn3Pt and Mn3Pt/SrTiO3/Mn3Pt antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions for the P and AP alignments of the Néel vectors between the left and right Mn3Pt electrodes. b, Electron transmission T(k||) of Mn3Pt/MgO/Mn3Pt and Mn3Pt/SrTiO3/Mn3Pt tunnel junctions in the 2D Brillouin zone for P and AP alignments of the Néel vectors. c, Transmission ratio of the P alignment over the AP alignment in the Brillouin zone.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Video 1

The simulated hysteresis loop of a Mn3Pt/MnPt bilayer heterostructure shows a remarkable exchange bias effect induced by the irreversible interfacial Mn spins (pink), whereas the increased coercivity can be ascribed to the reversible interfacial Mn spins (green).

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Qin, P., Yan, H., Wang, X. et al. Room-temperature magnetoresistance in an all-antiferromagnetic tunnel junction. Nature 613, 485–489 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05461-y

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