Strong Bias Effect on Voltage-Driven Torque at Epitaxial Fe-MgO Interface

Abstract

Torque can be provided to magnetization in nanomagnets directly by electric current and/or voltage. This technique enables electric current (voltage)-to-spin conversion without electromagnetic induction, and has been intensively studied for memory device applications. Among the various kinds of torque, torque induced by spin-orbit splitting has recently been found. However, quantitative understanding of bulk-related torque and interface-related torque is still lacking because of their identical symmetry for current-in-plane devices. In this paper, we propose that a pure interface-related torque can be characterized by spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance with a current-perpendicular-to-plane tunnel junction. Epitaxial Fe-MgO-V tunnel junctions are prepared to characterize the interface-related torque at Fe-MgO. We find that the current-driven torque is negligible, and a significant enhancement of the voltage-driven torque is observed when the MgO barrier thickness decreases. The maximum torque obtained is as large as 2.8×10^{−5} J/(Vm^{2}), which is comparable to the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy of 180 fJ/Vm. The voltage-driven torque shows strong dc-bias-voltage dependence that cannot be explained by conventional voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy. Tunnel anisotropic magnetoresistance spectroscopy suggests that the torque is correlated to an interface state at the Fe-MgO. This surface-state-sensitive electric modulation of magnetic properties provides new insight into the field of interface magnetism.