Single-shot switching in Tb/Co-multilayer based nanoscale magnetic tunnel junctions

Journal Article · Wed Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmmm.2023.170960· OSTI ID:2234047

Mondal, Sucheta  ^[1]; Polley, Debanjan  ^[2]; Pattabi, Akshay ^[3]; Chatterjee, Jyotirmoy ^[4]; Salomoni, David ^[5]; Aviles-Felix, Luis  ^[6]; Olivier, Aurélien  ^[5]; Rubio-Roy, Miguel  ^[5]; Diény, Bernard ^[5]; Prejbeanu, Liliana Daniela Buda ^[5]; Sousa, Ricardo ^[5]; Prejbeanu, Ioan Lucian ^[5]; Bokor, Jeffrey  ^[7]

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1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh (India)
2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur (India)
3. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); University of San Francisco, CA (United States)
4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
5. Univ. of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France); Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) (France)
6. Univ. of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France); Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) (France); National Atomic Energy Commission and National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CNEA-CONICET), Bariloche (Argentina). Instititue of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
7. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) are elementary units of magnetic memory devices. For high-speed and low-power data storage and processing applications, fast reversal of the magnetization by an ultrashort laser pulse is extremely important. Here we demonstrate single-shot switching of Tb/Co-multilayer based nanoscale MTJs by combining the optical writing and the electrical read-out methods. A 90-fs-long laser pulse switches the magnetization of the storage layer (SL). The change in the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) between the SL and a reference layer (RL) is probed electrically across the oxide barrier. Single-shot switching is demonstrated by varying the cell diameter from 300 nm to 20 nm. The anisotropy, magnetostatic coupling, and switching probability exhibit cell-size dependence. By suitable association of laser fluence and magnetic field, successive commutation between high-resistance and low-resistance states is achieved. The nature of the magnetization reversal of both SL and RL in a continuous film is probed with a depth-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) magnetometry. The ultrafast dynamics in the continuous full-MTJ stack is investigated with the time-resolved pump–probe technique. Our experimental findings provide strong support for the growing interest in ultrafast spintronic devices.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 2234047
• Journal Information: Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Vol. 581; ISSN 0304-8853
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
nanoscale MTJ
optical switching
TMR
ferrimagnet
magnetic multilayer
magneto-optical Kerr effect