- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review Applied

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Large Voltage-Induced Changes in the Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy of an MgO-Based Tunnel Junction with an Ultrathin Fe Layer

Takayuki Nozaki1,*, Anna Kozioł-Rachwał1,2, Witold Skowroński1,3, Vadym Zayets1, Yoichi Shiota1, Shingo Tamaru1, Hitoshi Kubota1, Akio Fukushima1, Shinji Yuasa1 et al.

Yoshishige Suzuki1,4

  • 1National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Spintronics Research Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8568, Japan
  • 2AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
  • 3AGH University of Science and Technology, Department of Electronics, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
  • 4Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan

  • *nozaki-t@aist.go.jp
PDF

Phys. Rev. Applied 5, 044006 – Published 15 April, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.5.044006

Abstract

We study the voltage control of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in an ultrathin Fe layer sandwiched between the Cr buffer and MgO tunneling barrier layers. A high-interface magnetic anisotropy energy of 2.1  mJ/m2 is achieved in the Cr/ultrathin Fe/MgO structure. A large voltage-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy change is observed under the negative-bias voltage applications for the case of the Fe layer thinner than 0.6 nm. The amplitude of the voltage-induced anisotropy energy change exhibits a strong Fe-thickness dependence and it reaches as high as 290  fJ/Vm. The observed high values of the surface anisotropy and voltage-induced anisotropy energy change demonstrate the feasibility of voltage-driven spintronic devices.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (60)

  1. M. Weisheit, S. Fähler, A. Marty, Y. Souche, C. Poinsignon, and D. Givord, Electric field-induced modification of magnetism in thin-film ferromagnets, Science 315, 349 (2007).
  2. T. Maruyama, Y. Shiota, T. Nozaki, K. Ohta, N. Toda, M. Mizuguchi, A. A. Turapurkar, T. Shinjo, M. Shiraishi, S. Mizukami, Y. Ando, and Y. Suzuki, Large voltage-induced magnetic anisotropy change in a few atomic layers of iron, Nat. Nanotechnol. 4, 158 (2009).
  3. Y. Shiota, T. Maruyama, T. Nozaki, T. Shinjo, M. Shiraishi, and Y. Suzuki, Voltage-assisted magnetization switching in ultrathin Fe80Co20 alloy layers, Appl. Phys. Express 2, 063001 (2009).
  4. S.-S. Ha, N.-H. Kim, S. Lee, C.-Y. You, Y. Shiota, T. Maruyama, T. Nozaki, and Y. Suzuki, Voltage induced magnetic anisotropy change in ultrathin Fe80Co20/MgO junctions with Brillouin light scattering, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 142512 (2010).
  5. T. Zhou, S. H. Leong, Z. M. Yuan, S. B. Hu, C. L. Ong, and B. Liu, Manipulation of magnetism by electrical field in a real recording system, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 012506 (2010).
  6. M. Endo, S. Kanai, S. Ikeda, F. Matsukura, and H. Ohno, Electric-field effects on thickness dependent magnetic anisotropy of sputtered MgO/Co40Fe40B20/Ta structures, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 212503 (2010).
  7. F. Bonell, S. Murakami, Y. Shiota, T. Nozaki, T. Shinjo, and Y. Suzuki, Large change in perpendicular magnetic anisotropy induced by an electric field in FePd ultrathin films, Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 232510 (2011).
  8. T. Seki, M. Kohda, J. Nitta, and K. Takanashi, Coercivity change in an FePt thin layer in a Hall device by voltage application, Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 212505 (2011).
  9. K. Kita, D. W. Abraham, M. J. Gajek, and D. C. Worledge, Electric-field-control of magnetic anisotropy of Co0.6Fe0.2B0.2/oxide stacks using reduced voltage, J. Appl. Phys. 112, 033919 (2012).
  10. T. Nozaki, Y. Shiota, M. Shiraishi, T. Shinjo, and Y. Suzuki, Voltage-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy change in magnetic tunnel junctions, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 022506 (2010).
  11. Y. Shiota, S. Murakami, F. Bonell, T. Nozaki, T. Shinjo, and Y. Suzuki, Quantitative evaluation of voltage-induced magnetic anisotropy change by magnetoresistance measurement, Appl. Phys. Express 4, 043005 (2011).
  12. W. Skowroński, P. Wiśniowski, T. Stobiecki, S. Cardoso, P. P. Freitas, and S. van Dijken, Magnetic field sensor with voltage-tunable sensing properties, Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 192401 (2012).
  13. P. Khalili Amiri, P. Upadhyaya, J. G. Alzate, and K. L. Wang, Electric-field-induced thermally assisted switching of monodomain magnetic bits, J. Appl. Phys. 113, 013912 (2013).
  14. A. Rajanikanth, T. Hauet, F. Montaigne, S. Mangin, and S. Andrieu, Magnetic anisotropy modified by electric field in V/Fe/MgO(001)/Fe epitaxial magnetic tunnel junction, Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 062402 (2013).
  15. Y. Shiota, F. Bonell, S. Miwa, N. Mizunouchi, T. Shinjo, and Y. Suzuki, Opposite signs of voltage-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy change in CoFeB/MgO junctions with different underlayers, Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 082410 (2013).
  16. T. Nozaki, K. Yakushiji, S. Tamaru, M. Sekine, R. Matsumoto, M. Konoto, H. Kubota, A. Fukushima, and S. Yuasa, Voltage-induced magnetic anisotropy changes in an ultrathin FeB layer sandwiched between two MgO layers, Appl. Phys. Express 6, 073005 (2013).
  17. T. Nozaki, H. Arai, K. Yakushiji, S. Tamaru, H. Kubota, H. Imamura, A. Fukushima, and S. Yuasa, Magnetization switching assisted by high-frequency-voltage-induced ferromagnetic resonance, Appl. Phys. Express 7, 073002 (2014).
  18. J. G. Alzate, P. Khalili Amiri, G. Yu, P. Upadhyaya, J. A. Katine, J. Langer, B. Ocker, I. N. Krivorotov, and K. L. Wang, Temperature dependence of the voltage-controlled perpendicular anisotropy in nanoscale MgO/CoFeB/Ta magnetic tunnel junctions, Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 112410 (2014).
  19. V. B. Naik, H. Meng, J. X. Xiao, R. S. Liu, A. Kumar, K. Y. Zeng, P. Luo, and S. Yap, Effect of electric-field on the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and strain in CoFeB/MgO magnetic tunnel junctions, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 052403 (2014).
  20. A. Sonntag, J. Hermenau, A. Schlenhoff, J. Friedlein, S. Krause, and R. Wiesendanger, Electric-Field-Induced Magnetic Anisotropy in a Nanomagnet Investigated on the Atomic Scale, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 017204 (2014).
  21. W. Skowroński, T. Nozaki, Y. Shiota, S. Tamaru, K. Yakushiji, H. Kubota, A. Fukushima, S. Yuasa, and Y. Suzuki, Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Ir/CoFeB/MgO trilayer system tuned by electric fields, Appl. Phys. Express 8, 053003 (2015).
  22. W. Skowroński, T. Nozaki, D. D. Lam, Y. Shiota, K. Yakushiji, H. Kubota, A. Fukushima, S. Yuasa, and Y. Suzuki, Underlayer material influence on electric-field controlled perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CoFeB/MgO magnetic tunnel junctions, Phys. Rev. B 91, 184410 (2015).
  23. D. Chiba, M. Sawicki, Y. Nishitani, Y. Nakatani, F. Matsukura, and H. Ohno, Magnetization vector manipulation by electric fields, Nature (London) 455, 515 (2008).
  24. T. Nozaki, Y. Shiota, S. Murakami, F. Bonell, S. Ishibashi, H. Kubota, K. Yakushiji, T. Saruya, A. Fukushima, S. Yuasa, T. Shinjo, and Y. Suzuki, Electric-field-induced ferromagnetic resonance excitation in an ultrathin ferromagnetic metal layer, Nat. Phys. 8, 491 (2012).
  25. J. Zhu, J. A. Katine, G. E. Rowlands, Y.-J. Chen, Z. Duan, J. G. Alzate, P. Upadhyaya, J. Langer, P. K. Amiri, K. L. Wang, and I. N. Krivorotov, Voltage-Induced Ferromagnetic Resonance in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 197203 (2012).
  26. Y. Shiota, T. Nozaki, F. Bonell, S. Murakami, T. Shinjo, and Y. Suzuki, Induction of coherent magnetization switching in a few atomic layers of FeCo using voltage pulses, Nat. Mater. 11, 39 (2012).
  27. S. Kanai, M. Yamanouchi, S. Ikeda, Y. Nakatani, F. Matsukura, and H. Ohno, Electric-field-induced magnetization reversal in a perpendicular-anisotropy CoFeB-MgO magnetic tunnel junction, Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 122403 (2012).
  28. W.-G. Wang, M. Li, S. Hageman, and C. L. Chien, Electric-field-assisted switching in magnetic tunnel junctions, Nat. Mater. 11, 64 (2012).
  29. S. Kanai, Y. Nakatani, M. Yamanouchi, S. Ikeda, H. Sato, F. Matsukura, and H. Ohno, Magnetization switching in a CoFeB/MgO magnetic tunnel junction by combining spin-transfer torque and electric field-effect, Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 212406 (2014).
  30. C.-G. Duan, J. P. Velev, R. F. Sabirianov, Z. Zhu, J. Chu, S. S. Jaswal, and E. Y. Tsymbal, Surface Magnetoelectric Effect in Ferromagnetic Metal Films, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 137201 (2008).
  31. K. Nakamura, R. Shimabukuro, Y. Fujiwara, T. Akiyama, T. Ito, and A. J. Freeman, Giant Modification of the Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy in Transition-Metal Monolayers by an External Electric Field, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 187201 (2009).
  32. M. Tsujikawa and T. Oda, Finite Electric Field Effects in the Large Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy Surface Pt/Fe/Pt(001): A First-Principles Study, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 247203 (2009).
  33. U. Bauer, L. Yao, A. J. Tan, P. Agrawal, S. Emori, H. L. Tuller, S. van Dijken, and G. S. D. Beach, Magneto-ionic control of interfacial magnetism, Nat. Mater. 14, 174 (2015).
  34. F. Bonell, Y. T. Takahashi, D. D. Lam, S. Yoshida, Y. Shiota, S. Miwa, T. Nakamura, and Y. Suzuki, Reversible change in the oxidation state and magnetic circular dichroism of Fe driven by an electric field at the FeCo/MgO interface, Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 152401 (2013).
  35. L. Xu and S. Zhang, Electric field control of interface magnetic anisotropy, J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07C501 (2012).
  36. S. E. Barnes, J. Ieda, and S. Maekawa, Rashba spin-orbit anisotropy and the electric field control of magnetism, Sci. Rep. 4, 4105 (2013).
  37. U. Bauer, M. Przybylski, J. Kirschner, and G. S. D. Beach, Magnetoelectric charge trap memory, Nano Lett. 12, 1437 (2012).
  38. S. Yuasa, A. Fukushima, K. Yakushiji, T. Nozaki, M. Konoto, H. Maehara, H. Kubota, T. Taniguchi, H. Arai, H. Imamura, K. Ando, Y. Shiota, F. Bonell, Y. Suzuki, N. Shimomura, E. Kitagawa, J. Ito, S. Fujita, K. Abe, K. Nomura, H. Noguchi, and H. Yoda, Future prospects of MRAM technologies, in Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), 2013 IEEE International, Washington, DC, 2013 (IEEE, 2013), p. 3.1.1.
  39. Y. Shiota, T. Nozaki, S. Tamaru, K. Yakushiji, H. Kubota, A. Fukushima, S. Yuasa, and Y. Suzuki, Evaluation of write error rate for voltage-driven dynamic magnetization switching in magnetic tunnel junctions with perpendicular magnetization, Appl. Phys. Express 9, 013001 (2016).
  40. C.-H. Lambert, A. Rajanikanth, T. Hauet, S. Mangin, E. E. Fullerton, and S. Andrieu, Quantifying perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at the Fe-MgO(001) interface, Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 122410 (2013).
  41. J. W. Koo, S. Mitani, T. T. Sasaki, H. Sukegawa, Z. C. Wen, T. Ohkubo, T. Niizeki, K. Inomata, and K. Hono, Large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at Fe/MgO interface, Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 192401 (2013).
  42. F. Bonell, D. D. Lam, S. Yoshida, T. Takahashi, Y. Shiota, S. Miwa, T. Nakamura, and Y. Suzuki, Investigation of Au and Ag segregation on Fe(001) with soft x-ray absorption, Surf. Sci. 616, 125 (2013).
  43. H. Oka, A. Nakai, and K. Sueoka, Carbon-induced superstructure on Cr(001) thin-film surfaces, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 46, 5602 (2007).
  44. U. Gradmann and J. Mueller, Flat ferromagnetic, epitaxial 48Ni/52Fe(111) films of few atomic layers, Phys. Status Solidi 27, 313 (1968).
  45. R. Shimabukuro, K. Nakamura, T. Akiyama, and T. Ito, Electric field effects on magnetocrystalline anisotropy in ferromagnetic Fe monolayers, Physica (Amsterdam) 42E, 1014 (2010).
  46. H. X. Yang, M. Chshiev, B. Dieny, J. H. Lee, A. Manchon, and K. H. Shin, First-principles investigation of the very large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at Fe/MgO and Co/MgO interfaces, Phys. Rev. B 84, 054401 (2011).
  47. J. Okabayashi, J. W. Koo, H. Sukegawa, S. Mitani, Y. Takagi, and T. Yokoyama, Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at the interface between ultrathin Fe and MgO studied by angular-dependent x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 122408 (2014).
  48. R. Zhang and R. F. Willis, Thickness-Dependent Curie Temperatures of Ultrathin Magnetic Films: Effect of the Range of Spin-Spin Interactions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2665 (2001).
  49. F. J. A. den Broeder, W. Hoving, and P. J. H. Bloemen, Magnetic anisotropy of multilayers, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 93, 562 (1991).
  50. A. J. Schellekens, A. van den Brink, J. H. Franken, H. J. M. Swagten, and B. Koopmans, Electric-field control of domain wall motion in perpendicularly magnetized materials, Nat. Commun. 3, 847 (2012).
  51. D. Chiba, M. Kawaguchi, S. Fukami, N. Ishiwata, K. Shimamura, K. Kobayashi, and T. Ono, Electric-field control of magnetic domain-wall velocity in ultrathin cobalt with perpendicular magnetization, Nat. Commun. 3, 888 (2012).
  52. S. Emori, U. Bauer, S. Woo, and G. S. D. Beach, Large voltage-induced modification of spin-orbit torques in Pt/Co/GdOx, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 222401 (2014).
  53. H.-M. Benia, P. Myrach, A. Gonchar, T. Risse, N. Nilius, and H.-J. Freund, Electron trapping in misfit dislocations of MgO thin films, Phys. Rev. B 81, 241415(R) (2010).
  54. S. A. Dababi, R. C. Sousa, M. Chishiev, H. Bea, J. A. Herault, L. Lombard, I. L. Prejbeanu, K. Mackay, and B. Dieny, Charge trapping-detrapping mechanism of barrier breakdown in MgO magnetic tunnel junctions, Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 083501 (2011).
  55. S. Miwa, K. Matsuda, K. Tanaka, Y. Kotani, M. Goto, T. Nakamura, and Y. Suzuki, Voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy in Fe/MgO tunnel junctions studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy, Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 162402 (2015).
  56. P.-J. Zermatten, G. Gaudin, G. Maris, M. Miron, A. Schuhl, C. Tiusan, F. Greullet, and M. Hehn, Experimental evidence of interface resonance states in single-crystal magnetic tunnel junctions, Phys. Rev. B 78, 033301 (2008).
  57. D. Yoshikawa, M. Obata, Y. Taguchi, S. Haraguchi, and T. Oda, Possible origin of nonlinear magnetic anisotropy variation in electric field effect in a double interface system, Appl. Phys. Express 7, 113005 (2014).
  58. A. Davies, J. A. Stroscio, D. T. Pierce, and R. J. Celotta, Atomic-Scale Observation of Alloying at the Cr-Fe(001) Interface, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 4175 (1996).
  59. Y. J. Choi, I. C. Jeong, J.-Y. Park, S.-J. Kahng, J. Lee, and Y. Kuk, Surface alloy formation of Fe on Cr(100) studied by scanning tunneling microscopy, Phys. Rev. B 59, 10918 (1999).
  60. P. V. Ong, N. Kioussis, D. Odkhuu, P. Khalili Amiri, K. L. Wang, and G. P. Carman, Giant voltage modulation of magnetic anisotropy in strained heavy metal/magnet/insulator heterostructures, Phys. Rev. B 92, 020407(R) (2015).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Applied 5, 044006– Published 15 April, 2016
  • Received 17 September 2015

© 2016 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation