Effect of the oxide layer on current-induced spin-orbit torques in Hf|CoFeB|MgO and Hf|CoFeB|TaOx structures
Abstract
We study the effect of the oxide layer on the current-induced spin-orbit torques (SOTs) in perpendicularly magnetized Hf|CoFeB|MgO (MgO-capped) or Hf|CoFeB|TaOx (TaOx-capped) structures. The effective fields corresponding to both the field-like and damping-like current-induced SOTs are characterized using electric transport measurements. Both torques are found to be significantly stronger in MgO-capped structures than those in TaOx-capped structures. The difference in field-like and damping-like SOTs in the different structures may be attributed to the different Rashba-like Hamiltonian, arising from the difference in the electric potential profiles across the oxide|ferromagnet interfaces in the two cases, as well as possible structural and oxidation differences in the underlying CoFeB and Hf layers. Our results show that the oxide layer in heavy-metal|ferromagnet|oxide trilayer structures has a very significant effect on the generated SOTs for manipulation of ferromagnetic layers. These findings could potentially be used to engineer SOT devices with enhanced current-induced switching efficiency.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 19, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4906352
Entities
People
- Ahmet Ekicibil
- Guoqiang Yu
- Juan G. Alzate
- Kang L. Wang
- Kin L. Wong
- Mustafa Akyol
- Pedram Khalili Amiri
- Pramey Upadhyaya
Organizations
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology
- National Science Foundation
- University of California