Spin-orbit torques acting upon a perpendicularly magnetized Py layer

We show that Py, a commonly used soft ferromagnetic material with weak anisotropy, can become perpendicularly magnetized while depositing on a Ta buffer layer with Hf or Zr insertion layers (ILs) and an MgO capping layer. By using two different approaches, namely, harmonic voltage measurement and hy...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tian-Yue Chen, Yongxi Ou, Tsung-Yu Tsai, R. A. Buhrman, Chi-Feng Pai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2018-12-01
Series:APL Materials
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5067251
Description
Summary:We show that Py, a commonly used soft ferromagnetic material with weak anisotropy, can become perpendicularly magnetized while depositing on a Ta buffer layer with Hf or Zr insertion layers (ILs) and an MgO capping layer. By using two different approaches, namely, harmonic voltage measurement and hysteresis loop shift measurement, the dampinglike spin-orbit torque (DL-SOT) efficiencies from Ta/IL/Py/IL/MgO magnetic heterostructures with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy are characterized. We find that though Ta has a significant spin Hall effect, the DL-SOT efficiencies are small in systems with the Ta/Py interface compared to that obtained from the control sample with the traditional Ta/CoFeB interface. Our results indicate that the spin transparency for the Ta/Py interface is much less than that for the Ta/CoFeB interface, which might be related to the variation of spin mixing conductance for different interfaces.
ISSN:2166-532X