The central role of tilted anisotropy for field-free spin–orbit torque switching of perpendicular magnetization

• Published in: NPG Asia materials Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 1 - 10
• Main Authors: Hu, Chen-Yu, Chen, Wei-De, Liu, Yan-Ting, Huang, Chao-Chung, Pai, Chi-Feng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Nature Publishing Group 12.01.2024; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Anisotropy; Broken symmetry; Current density; Damping; Electronic systems; Ferromagnetism; Hall effect; Heterostructures; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic fields; Magnetic switching; Magnetization; R&D; Random access memory; Research & development; Torque
• ISSN: 1884-4057; 1884-4049; 1884-4057
• DOI: 10.1038/s41427-023-00521-9

Abstract The discovery of efficient magnetization switching upon device activation by spin Hall effect (SHE)-induced spin–orbit torque (SOT) changed the course of magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) research and development. However, for electronic systems with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), the use of SOT is still hampered by the necessity of a longitudinal magnetic field to break magnetic symmetry and achieve deterministic switching. In this work, we demonstrate that robust and tunable field-free current-driven SOT switching of perpendicular magnetization can be controlled by the growth protocol in Pt-based magnetic heterostructures. We further elucidate that such growth-dependent symmetry breaking originates from the laterally tilted magnetic anisotropy of the ferromagnetic layer with PMA, a phenomenon that has been largely neglected in previous studies. We show experimentally and in simulation that in a PMA system with tilted anisotropy, the deterministic field-free switching exhibits a conventional SHE-induced damping-like torque feature, and the resulting current-induced effective field shows a nonlinear dependence on the applied current density. This relationship could be potentially misattributed to an unconventional SOT origin.