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Field-free and unconventional switching of perpendicular magnetization at room temperature

Nature Electronics volume 6, pages 724–725 (2023)Cite this article

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External-magnetic-field-free switching of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in magnetic layers is a prerequisite for the wide adoption of spintronic devices. This challenge could be met by the Weyl semimetal TaIrTe4, which is now shown to generate an out-of-plane polarized spin current at room temperature.

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Fig. 1: Crystal structure of TaIrTe4 and its high spin Hall conductivity.

References

  1. Miron, I. M. et al. Perpendicular switching of a single ferromagnetic layer induced by in-plane current injection. Nature 476, 189–193 (2011). This paper reports SOT-induced PMA switching with an external field.

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  2. Liu, L. et al. Spin-torque switching with the giant spin Hall effect of tantalum. Science 336, 555–558 (2012). This paper reports SOT-induced in-plane magnet switching.

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  5. Kao, I.-H. et al. Deterministic switching of a perpendicularly polarized magnet using unconventional spin–orbit torques in WTe2. Nat. Mater. 21, 1029–1034 (2022). This paper reports field-free PMA switching with WTe2 at low temperatures.

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This is a summary of: Liu, Y. et al. Field-free switching of perpendicular magnetization at room temperature using out-of-plane spins from TaIrTe4. Nat. Electron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-023-01039-2 (2023).

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Field-free and unconventional switching of perpendicular magnetization at room temperature. Nat Electron 6, 724–725 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-023-01040-9

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