Strain-assisted current-induced magnetization reversal in magnetic tunnel junctions: A micromagnetic study with phase-field microelasticity

Journal Article · Mon Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4896692· OSTI ID:22350754

Hu, J. M.; Yang, T. N.; Chen, L. Q. ^[1]; Ma, X. Q. ^[2]

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1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China)

Effect of substrate misfit strain on current-induced in-plane magnetization reversal in CoFeB-MgO based magnetic tunnel junctions is investigated by combining micromagnetic simulations with phase-field microelasticity theory. It is found that the critical current density for in-plane magnetization reversal decreases dramatically with an increasing substrate strain, since the effective elastic field can drag the magnetization to one of the four in-plane diagonal directions. A potential strain-assisted multilevel bit spin transfer magnetization switching device using substrate misfit strain is also proposed.

• OSTI ID: 22350754
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CRITICAL CURRENT
ELASTICITY
MAGNESIUM OXIDES
MAGNETIZATION
SIMULATION
SPIN
STRAINS
SUBSTRATES
TUNNEL DIODES
TUNNEL EFFECT