AIP Advances (May 2016)

Electrical-field and spin-transfer torque effects in CoFeB/MgO-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction

  • Chikako Yoshida,
  • Hideyuki Noshiro,
  • Yuichi Yamazaki,
  • Toshihiro Sugii,
  • Atsushi Furuya,
  • Tadashi Ataka,
  • Tomohiro Tanaka,
  • Yuji Uehara

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4943764
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 5
pp. 055816 – 055816-5

Abstract

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The electric-field (E) dependence of the magnetoresistance (RH) loops for top-pinned perpendicular CoFeB/MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) in the presence of a spin-transfer torque (STT)-current was measured. The E effects were distinguished from the STT-current effects using a micromagnetic simulation. The coercive field (Hc) decreased and the RH loop shifted as both the positive and negative bias E increased owing to the STT current. Furthermore, E-assisted switching for an MTJ with a diameter of 20 nm, which exhibited a nearly coherent magnetization reversal, was demonstrated using micromagnetic simulation.