Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility

Antiferromagnets offer a unique combination of properties including the radiation and magnetic field hardness, the absence of stray magnetic fields, and the spin-dynamics frequency scale in terahertz. Recent experiments have demonstrated that relativistic spin-orbit torques can provide the means for...

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Main Authors: Olejnik, K., Schuler, V., Marti, X., Novák, V., Kaspar, Z., Wadley, P., Campion, R.P., Edmonds, K.W., Gallagher, B.L., Garces, J., Baumgartner, M., Gambardella, P., Jungwirth, T.
Format: Article
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2017
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44161/
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author Olejnik, K.
Schuler, V.
Marti, X.
Novák, V.
Kaspar, Z.
Wadley, P.
Campion, R.P.
Edmonds, K.W.
Gallagher, B.L.
Garces, J.
Baumgartner, M.
Gambardella, P.
Jungwirth, T.
author_facet Olejnik, K.
Schuler, V.
Marti, X.
Novák, V.
Kaspar, Z.
Wadley, P.
Campion, R.P.
Edmonds, K.W.
Gallagher, B.L.
Garces, J.
Baumgartner, M.
Gambardella, P.
Jungwirth, T.
author_sort Olejnik, K.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Antiferromagnets offer a unique combination of properties including the radiation and magnetic field hardness, the absence of stray magnetic fields, and the spin-dynamics frequency scale in terahertz. Recent experiments have demonstrated that relativistic spin-orbit torques can provide the means for an efficient electric control of antiferromagnetic moments. Here we show that elementary-shape memory cells fabricated from a single-layer antiferromagnet CuMnAs deposited on a III–V or Si substrate have deterministic multi-level switching characteristics. They allow for counting and recording thousands of input pulses and responding to pulses of lengths downscaled to hundreds of picoseconds. To demonstrate the compatibility with common microelectronic circuitry, we implemented the antiferromagnetic bit cell in a standard printed circuit board managed and powered at ambient conditions by a computer via a USB interface. Our results open a path towards specialized embedded memory-logic applications and ultra-fast components based on antiferromagnets.
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spelling nottingham-441612020-05-04T18:46:19Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44161/ Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility Olejnik, K. Schuler, V. Marti, X. Novák, V. Kaspar, Z. Wadley, P. Campion, R.P. Edmonds, K.W. Gallagher, B.L. Garces, J. Baumgartner, M. Gambardella, P. Jungwirth, T. Antiferromagnets offer a unique combination of properties including the radiation and magnetic field hardness, the absence of stray magnetic fields, and the spin-dynamics frequency scale in terahertz. Recent experiments have demonstrated that relativistic spin-orbit torques can provide the means for an efficient electric control of antiferromagnetic moments. Here we show that elementary-shape memory cells fabricated from a single-layer antiferromagnet CuMnAs deposited on a III–V or Si substrate have deterministic multi-level switching characteristics. They allow for counting and recording thousands of input pulses and responding to pulses of lengths downscaled to hundreds of picoseconds. To demonstrate the compatibility with common microelectronic circuitry, we implemented the antiferromagnetic bit cell in a standard printed circuit board managed and powered at ambient conditions by a computer via a USB interface. Our results open a path towards specialized embedded memory-logic applications and ultra-fast components based on antiferromagnets. Nature Publishing Group 2017-05-19 Article PeerReviewed Olejnik, K., Schuler, V., Marti, X., Novák, V., Kaspar, Z., Wadley, P., Campion, R.P., Edmonds, K.W., Gallagher, B.L., Garces, J., Baumgartner, M., Gambardella, P. and Jungwirth, T. (2017) Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility. Nature Communications, 8 . 15434/1-15434/7. ISSN 2041-1723 http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15434 doi:10.1038/ncomms15434 doi:10.1038/ncomms15434
spellingShingle Olejnik, K.
Schuler, V.
Marti, X.
Novák, V.
Kaspar, Z.
Wadley, P.
Campion, R.P.
Edmonds, K.W.
Gallagher, B.L.
Garces, J.
Baumgartner, M.
Gambardella, P.
Jungwirth, T.
Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility
title Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility
title_full Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility
title_fullStr Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility
title_full_unstemmed Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility
title_short Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility
title_sort antiferromagnetic cumnas multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44161/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44161/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44161/