Competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries

Current-induced spin-orbit torques (SOTs) in structurally asymmetric multilayers have been used to efficiently manipulate magnetization. In a structure with vertical symmetry breaking, a damping-like SOT can deterministically switch a perpendicular magnet, provided an in-plane magnetic field is appl...

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Main Authors:	Yu, Guoqiang, Akyol, Mustafa, Upadhyaya, Pramey, Li, Xiang, He, Congli, Fan, Yabin, Montazeri, Mohammad, Alzate, Juan G., Lang, Murong, Wong, Kin L., Khalili Amiri, Pedram, Wang, Kang L.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Nature Publishing Group 2016
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4822117/

id	pubmed-4822117
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-48221172016-04-06 Competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries Yu, Guoqiang Akyol, Mustafa Upadhyaya, Pramey Li, Xiang He, Congli Fan, Yabin Montazeri, Mohammad Alzate, Juan G. Lang, Murong Wong, Kin L. Khalili Amiri, Pedram Wang, Kang L. Article Current-induced spin-orbit torques (SOTs) in structurally asymmetric multilayers have been used to efficiently manipulate magnetization. In a structure with vertical symmetry breaking, a damping-like SOT can deterministically switch a perpendicular magnet, provided an in-plane magnetic field is applied. Recently, it has been further demonstrated that the in-plane magnetic field can be eliminated by introducing a new type of perpendicular field-like SOT via incorporating a lateral structural asymmetry into the device. Typically, however, when a current is applied to such devices with combined vertical and lateral asymmetries, both the perpendicular field-like torque and the damping-like torque coexist, hence jointly affecting the magnetization switching behavior. Here, we study perpendicular magnetization switching driven by the combination of the perpendicular field-like and the damping-like SOTs, which exhibits deterministic switching mediated through domain wall propagation. It is demonstrated that the role of the damping-like SOT in the deterministic switching is highly dependent on the magnetization direction in the domain wall. By contrast, the perpendicular field-like SOT is solely determined by the relative orientation between the lateral structural asymmetry and the current direction, regardless of the magnetization direction in the domain wall. The experimental results further the understanding of SOTs-induced switching, with implications for spintronic devices. Nature Publishing Group 2016-04-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4822117/ /pubmed/27050160 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep23956 Text en Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Yu, Guoqiang Akyol, Mustafa Upadhyaya, Pramey Li, Xiang He, Congli Fan, Yabin Montazeri, Mohammad Alzate, Juan G. Lang, Murong Wong, Kin L. Khalili Amiri, Pedram Wang, Kang L.
spellingShingle	Yu, Guoqiang Akyol, Mustafa Upadhyaya, Pramey Li, Xiang He, Congli Fan, Yabin Montazeri, Mohammad Alzate, Juan G. Lang, Murong Wong, Kin L. Khalili Amiri, Pedram Wang, Kang L. Competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries
author_facet	Yu, Guoqiang Akyol, Mustafa Upadhyaya, Pramey Li, Xiang He, Congli Fan, Yabin Montazeri, Mohammad Alzate, Juan G. Lang, Murong Wong, Kin L. Khalili Amiri, Pedram Wang, Kang L.
author_sort	Yu, Guoqiang
title	Competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries
title_short	Competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries
title_full	Competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries
title_fullStr	Competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries
title_full_unstemmed	Competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries
title_sort	competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries
description	Current-induced spin-orbit torques (SOTs) in structurally asymmetric multilayers have been used to efficiently manipulate magnetization. In a structure with vertical symmetry breaking, a damping-like SOT can deterministically switch a perpendicular magnet, provided an in-plane magnetic field is applied. Recently, it has been further demonstrated that the in-plane magnetic field can be eliminated by introducing a new type of perpendicular field-like SOT via incorporating a lateral structural asymmetry into the device. Typically, however, when a current is applied to such devices with combined vertical and lateral asymmetries, both the perpendicular field-like torque and the damping-like torque coexist, hence jointly affecting the magnetization switching behavior. Here, we study perpendicular magnetization switching driven by the combination of the perpendicular field-like and the damping-like SOTs, which exhibits deterministic switching mediated through domain wall propagation. It is demonstrated that the role of the damping-like SOT in the deterministic switching is highly dependent on the magnetization direction in the domain wall. By contrast, the perpendicular field-like SOT is solely determined by the relative orientation between the lateral structural asymmetry and the current direction, regardless of the magnetization direction in the domain wall. The experimental results further the understanding of SOTs-induced switching, with implications for spintronic devices.
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
publishDate	2016
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4822117/
_version_	1613562794144169984

Competing effect of spin-orbit torque terms on perpendicular magnetization switching in structures with multiple inversion asymmetries

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