Current induced magnetization switching in an antiperovskite nitride exchange-coupled bilayer

Recently, current-induced spin transfer torque is attracting interest because it affects not only a FM but also an AFM. Furthermore, the critical current for AFM switching is more than 10-2 times smaller than typical value for a FM. Therefore, FM/AFM bilayers containing half-metallic FMs are desirable for studying current-induced magnetization switching and spin torque in AFM materials. Up to now, we focused on antiperovskite nitride because there are many combinations of elements that form the antiperovskite nitride such a AFM materials and half-metallic FM. Antiperovskite FM nitride Co₃FeN is predicted that it has high negative spin polarization. Antiperovskite AFM nitride Mn₃GaN exhibits many interesting properties, such as piezomagnetic. For Mn₃GaN/Co₃FeN bilayer, we expect application to the new devices controlling magnetic moments of Mn₃GaN by spin transfer torque. In this study, we investigated current-induced magnetization switching in Mn₃GaN/Co₃FeN epitaxial exchange-coupled bilayers by employing AMR effect . We shall discuss spin transfer torque in antiferromagnetic Mn₃GaN.