Observation of anti-damping spin-orbit torques generated by in-plane and out-of-plane spin polarizations in MnPd3

Mahendra Dc; Ding-Fu Shao; Vincent D-H Hou; Arturas Vailionis; P Quarterman; Ali Habiboglu; M B Venuti; Fen Xue; Yen-Lin Huang; Chien-Min Lee; Masashi Miura; Brian Kirby; Chong Bi; Xiang Li; Yong Deng; Shy-Jay Lin; Wilman Tsai; Serena Eley; Wei-Gang Wang; Julie A Borchers; Evgeny Y Tsymbal; Shan X Wang

doi:10.1038/s41563-023-01522-3

Observation of anti-damping spin-orbit torques generated by in-plane and out-of-plane spin polarizations in MnPd₃

Nat Mater. 2023 May;22(5):591-598. doi: 10.1038/s41563-023-01522-3. Epub 2023 Apr 3.

Authors

Mahendra Dc¹, Ding-Fu Shao², Vincent D-H Hou³, Arturas Vailionis^{4

5}, P Quarterman⁶, Ali Habiboglu⁷, M B Venuti⁸, Fen Xue⁹, Yen-Lin Huang^{3

10}, Chien-Min Lee³, Masashi Miura^{11

12}, Brian Kirby⁶, Chong Bi⁹, Xiang Li^{11

9}, Yong Deng¹¹, Shy-Jay Lin³, Wilman Tsai¹¹, Serena Eley⁸, Wei-Gang Wang⁷, Julie A Borchers⁶, Evgeny Y Tsymbal², Shan X Wang^{13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. [email protected].
² Department of Physics and Astronomy & Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA.
³ Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
⁴ Stanford Nano Shared Facilities, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics, Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁶ NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, USA.
⁹ Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
¹¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
¹² Graduate School of Science and Technology, Seikei University, Tokyo, Japan.
¹³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. [email protected].
¹⁴ Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. [email protected].

PMID: 37012436
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-023-01522-3

Abstract

Large spin-orbit torques (SOTs) generated by topological materials and heavy metals interfaced with ferromagnets are promising for next-generation magnetic memory and logic devices. SOTs generated from y spin originating from spin Hall and Edelstein effects can realize field-free magnetization switching only when the magnetization and spin are collinear. Here we circumvent the above limitation by utilizing unconventional spins generated in a MnPd₃ thin film grown on an oxidized silicon substrate. We observe conventional SOT due to y spin, and out-of-plane and in-plane anti-damping-like torques originated from z spin and x spin, respectively, in MnPd₃/CoFeB heterostructures. Notably, we have demonstrated complete field-free switching of perpendicular cobalt via out-of-plane anti-damping-like SOT. Density functional theory calculations show that the observed unconventional torques are due to the low symmetry of the (114)-oriented MnPd₃ films. Altogether our results provide a path toward realization of a practical spin channel in ultrafast magnetic memory and logic devices.

Abstract

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