Switching Properties for MgO-Based Magnetic Tunnel Junction Devices Driven by Spin-Transfer Torque in the Nanosecond Regime

Author

Lee, Jia-Mou ; Lee, Ching-Ming ; Ye, Lin-Xiu ; Su, Juhng-Perng ; Wu, Te-Ho

Author_Institution

Taiwan SPIN Res. Center, Nat. Yunlin Univ. of Sci. & Technol., Douliou, Taiwan

Volume

47

Issue

3

fYear

2011

fDate

3/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

629

Lastpage

632

Abstract

Spin-transfer torque (STT) enables magnetization switching by passing a spin-polarized current through nanostructures such as spin-valves or magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). The required switching current depends on the pulse width which is related to the feature of switching modes. In this work the STT-induced switching processes for several nano-sized MTJs were studied with pulse widths ranging from 100 ms to 2 ns. We found that the intrinsic critical switching current depends on the junction area; and the crossover region of pulse width between two typical switching modes, i.e., thermal-activation and precession-amplification, is around 20 ns.

Keywords

magnesium compounds; magnetic switching; magnetic tunnelling; magnetisation; nanomagnetics; nanostructured materials; spin valves; MgO; MgO-based magnetic tunnel junction devices; crossover region; intrinsic critical switching current; junction area; magnetization switching; nanosecond regime; nanosized magnetic tunnel junction; nanostructures; precession-amplification; pulse width; spin-polarized current; spin-transfer torque-induced switching processes; spin-valves; switching modes; switching properties; thermal-activation; Current density; Magnetic tunneling; Magnetization; Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; Switches; Torque; Magnetic tunnel junctions; spin-transfer torque; switching modes;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2010.2101055

Filename

5721858