Engineering spin-orbit torque in Co/Pt multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Journal Article · Mon Dec 07 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4937443· OSTI ID:22486197

Huang, Kuo-Feng; Wang, Ding-Shuo; Lai, Chih-Huang ^[1]; Lin, Hsiu-Hau ^[2]

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1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China)
2. Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China)

To address thermal stability issues for spintronic devices with a reduced size, we investigate spin-orbit torque in Co/Pt multilayers with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Note that the spin-orbit torque arises from the global imbalance of the spin currents from the top and bottom interfaces for each Co layer. By inserting Ta or Cu layers to strengthen the top-down asymmetry, the spin-orbit torque efficiency can be greatly modified without compromised perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Above all, the efficiency builds up as the number of layers increases, realizing robust thermal stability and high spin-orbit-torque efficiency simultaneously in the multilayers structure.

• OSTI ID: 22486197
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 23; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANISOTROPY
ASYMMETRY
EFFICIENCY
INTERFACES
LAYERS
SPIN
STABILITY