Micromagnetic modeling of domain wall motion in sub-100-nm-wide wires with individual and periodic edge defects
Abstract
Reducing the switching energy of devices that rely on magnetic domain wall motion requires scaling the devices to widths well below 100 nm, where the nanowire line edge roughness (LER) is an inherent source of domain wall pinning. We investigate the effects of periodic and isolated rectangular notches, triangular notches, changes in anisotropy, and roughness measured from images of fabricated wires, in sub-100-nm-wide nanowires with in-plane and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy using micromagnetic modeling. Pinning fields calculated for a model based on discretized images of physical wires are compared to experimental measurements. When the width of the domain wall is smaller than the notch period, the domain wall velocity is modulated as the domain wall propagates along the wire. We find that in sub-30-nm-wide wires, edge defects determine the operating threshold and domain wall dynamics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4937557
Entities
People
- C. A. Ross
- Jean Anne Currivan Incorvia
- M. A. Baldo
- S. A. Siddiqui
- Sumit Dutta
Organizations
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Harvard University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology