DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Interfacial contributions to spin-orbit torque and magnetoresistance in ferromagnet/heavy-metal bilayers

Journal Article · · Physical Review B

The thickness dependence of spin-orbit torque and magnetoresistance in ferromagnet/heavy-metal bilayers is studied here using the first-principles nonequilibrium Green's function formalism combined with the Anderson disorder model. A systematic expansion in orthogonal vector spherical harmonics is used for the angular dependence of the torque. The dampinglike torque in Co/Pt and Co/Au bilayers can be described as a sum of the spin-Hall contribution, which increases with thickness in agreement with the spin-diffusion model, and a comparable interfacial contribution. The magnetoconductance in the plane perpendicular to the current in Co/Pt bilayers is of the order of a conductance quantum per interfacial atom, exceeding the prediction of the spin-Hall model by more than an order of magnitude. This indicates that the “spin-Hall magnetoresistance,” similarly to the dampinglike torque, has a large interfacial contribution unrelated to the spin-Hall effect.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0014189; DMR-1609776; DMR- 1420645
OSTI ID:
1596692
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Vol. 101, Issue 2; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (60)

Giant Room Temperature Interface Spin Hall and Inverse Spin Hall Effects journal May 2016
Magnetization-Direction-Dependent Local Electronic Structure Probed by Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy journal November 2002
Spin–orbit torque driven by a planar Hall current journal October 2018
Emission of spin waves by a magnetic multilayer traversed by a current journal October 1996
Spin-Torque Switching with the Giant Spin Hall Effect of Tantalum journal May 2012
Theory of Spin Loss at Metallic Interfaces journal November 2016
First-principles study of the angular dependence of the spin-orbit torque in Pt/Co and Pd/Co bilayers journal June 2018
Spin-Orbit Torque in a Single Ferromagnetic Layer Induced by Surface Spin Rotation journal June 2019
Spin-orbit torques in two-dimensional Rashba ferromagnets journal July 2015
Intrinsic magnetoresistance in metal films on ferromagnetic insulators journal October 2014
Tunneling Anisotropic Magnetoresistance: A Spin-Valve-Like Tunnel Magnetoresistance Using a Single Magnetic Layer journal September 2004
Disentanglement of bulk and interfacial spin Hall effect in ferromagnet/normal metal interface journal October 2016
Spin transport at interfaces with spin-orbit coupling: Phenomenology journal September 2016
Theory of spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) and related phenomena journal February 2016
Spin-Orbit Torques in Heavy-Metal–Ferromagnet Bilayers with Varying Strengths of Interfacial Spin-Orbit Coupling journal February 2019
Ab initio tight-binding LMTO method for nonequilibrium electron transport in nanosystems journal May 2005
Current-Induced Switching of Perpendicularly Magnetized Magnetic Layers Using Spin Torque from the Spin Hall Effect journal August 2012
Current-induced spin-orbit torques in ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic systems journal September 2019
Interface control of the magnetic chirality in CoFeB/MgO heterostructures with heavy-metal underlayers journal August 2014
Spin and charge currents induced by the spin Hall and anomalous Hall effects upon crossing ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic interfaces journal January 2019
Quantifying interface and bulk contributions to spin–orbit torque in magnetic bilayers journal January 2014
Spin Hall effects journal October 2015
Anomalous spin–orbit torques in magnetic single-layer films journal July 2019
Perpendicular switching of a single ferromagnetic layer induced by in-plane current injection journal August 2011
Spin transport at interfaces with spin-orbit coupling: Formalism journal September 2016
First-principles calculation of spin-orbit torque in a Co/Pt bilayer journal January 2019
Current-driven spin torque induced by the Rashba effect in a ferromagnetic metal layer journal January 2010
Theory of spin Hall magnetoresistance journal April 2013
Anomalous spin Hall magnetoresistance in Pt/Co bilayers journal May 2018
Spin-orbit torques from interfacial spin-orbit coupling for various interfaces journal September 2017
Spin-Torque Ferromagnetic Resonance Induced by the Spin Hall Effect journal January 2011
Layer thickness dependence of the current-induced effective field vector in Ta|CoFeB|MgO journal December 2012
Quantum kinetic theory of current-induced torques in Rashba ferromagnets journal July 2012
Questaal: A package of electronic structure methods based on the linear muffin-tin orbital technique journal April 2020
Strong spin-orbit fields and Dyakonov-Perel spin dephasing in supported metallic films journal November 2016
Spin polarization of conduction electrons induced by electric current in two-dimensional asymmetric electron systems journal January 1990
Hf thickness dependence of spin-orbit torques in Hf/CoFeB/MgO heterostructures journal May 2016
Intrinsic Spin Hall Effect in Platinum: First-Principles Calculations journal March 2008
Current-driven excitation of magnetic multilayers journal June 1996
Spin Hall Magnetoresistance in Metallic Bilayers journal February 2016
Spin Hall Magnetoresistance Induced by a Nonequilibrium Proximity Effect journal May 2013
Microscopic theory of spin-orbit torques in two dimensions journal March 2017
Evidence for reversible control of magnetization in a ferromagnetic material by means of spin–orbit magnetic field journal August 2009
Anisotropic magnetoresistance driven by surface spin-orbit scattering journal July 2015
Spin-orbit torques in Co/Pt(111) and Mn/W(001) magnetic bilayers from first principles journal November 2014
New perspectives for Rashba spin–orbit coupling journal August 2015
Electronic Structure of Disordered Alloys, Surfaces and Interfaces book January 1997
Evidence for reversible control of magnetization in a ferromagnetic material via spin-orbit magnetic field text January 2008
Spin Hall Magnetoresistance Induced by a Non-Equilibrium Proximity Effect text January 2012
Theory of spin Hall magnetoresistance text January 2013
Intrinsic magnetoresistance in metal films on ferromagnetic insulators text January 2014
Anisotropic magnetoresistance driven by surface spin orbit scattering text January 2015
New Perspectives for Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling text January 2015
Theory of spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) and related phenomena text January 2015
Theory of spin loss at metallic interfaces text January 2016
Strong spin-orbit fields and Dyakonov-Perel spin dephasing in supported metallic films text January 2016
Spin-orbit torques from interfacial spin-orbit coupling for various interfaces text January 2017
Current-induced spin-orbit torques in ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic systems text January 2018
Anomalous spin Hall magnetoresistance in Pt/Co bilayers text January 2018
Intrinsic spin currents in ferromagnets text January 2019