2012/09/04 by Eva Grimaldi, Viola Krizakova, Giacomo Sala +6 · 4 citations
Decision Sciences · Materials Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Applied mathematics #Chemical and Physical Properties of Materials #Computer science #Confidence interval #Convergence (economics) #Delta method #Estimator #Gaussian #Magnetic anisotropy #Magnetic properties of thin films #Magnetization #Magnetization dynamics #Markov Chains and Monte Carlo Methods #Markov chain #Markov chain Monte Carlo #Mathematics #Monte Carlo method #Multiferroics and related materials #Probability and Risk Models #Rate of convergence #Spin-transfer torque #Statistical Methods and Inference #Statistics #Switching time #Torque #Tunnel magnetoresistance #Voltage #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41565-019-0607-7
published in Nature Nanotechnology 15(2), 111-117 (Nature Portfolio)
openalex publication_date 2012/09/04 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · arxiv created 2020/11/17 · arxiv updated 2020/11/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Current-induced spin-transfer torques (STT) and spin-orbit torques (SOT) enable the electrical switching of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) in non-volatile magnetic random access memories. To develop faster memory devices, an improvement in the timescales that underlie the current-driven magnetization dynamics is required. Here we report all-electrical time-resolved measurements of magnetization reversal driven by SOT in a three-terminal MTJ device. Single-shot measurements of the MTJ resistance during current injection reveal that SOT switching involves a stochastic two-step process that consists of a domain nucleation time and propagation time, which have different genesis, timescales and statistical distributions compared to STT switching. We further show that the combination of SOT, STT and the voltage control of magnetic anisotropy leads to reproducible subnanosecond switching with the spread of the cumulative switching time smaller than 0.2 ns. Our measurements unravel the combined impact of SOT, STT and the voltage control of magnetic anisotropy in determining the switching speed and efficiency of MTJ devices.