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Detecting a three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field by a compact and simple structure or device has always been a challenging work. The recent discovery of 3D magnetic field sensing through the single spin–orbit torque device consisting of the Ta/CoFeB/MgO heterostructure, based on the domain wall motion, offers a revolutionary way to tackle this problem. Here, we demonstrate a 3D magnetic field sensor based on the W/CoFeB/MgO heterostructure via domain nucleation dominated magnetization reversal. In such a heterostructure, the in-plane (IP) and out-of-plane (OOP) magnetic field components drive the grains reversal with different manners, enabling the distinguishment of the contributions from IP and OOP components. The linear modulations of anomalous Hall resistance by x, y, and z components of magnetic fields have been obtained, respectively, with the same linear range of −20 to +20 Oe for each component. Typically, a higher linearity is realized in this work compared with the previous domain wall motion based sensor, which is a critical characteristic for the magnetic field sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrators are widely used in industrial controls, signal processing, and computing. However, traditional resistor–capacitor integrators incur leakage errors and zero drift, hindering their accuracy. By contrast, spintronic devices with good scalability and endurance for memory and logic applications in digital circuits have yet to be studied for analog circuit elements. Here, we propose a single-device spintronic integrator based on the current-controlled magnetic domain wall (DW). Continuous DW motion and correlated changes in the anomalous Hall resistance (or magneto-resistance) are encoded as an analog output signal, which is modulated by an input current through the spin–orbit-torque effect. Waveform transformation and phase-shift functions are demonstrated using Hall-bar devices. The spintronic integrator could pave the way for the spin-based analog computing with high reliability, high endurance, and good compatibility with the CMOS process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spin torque effects discovered in spintronics have a broad prospect for applications in information memory and logic devices, wherein deterministic switching is highly desired. Variations between devices originating from the fabrication process and inherently random physical features are detrimental to memory and logic devices; however, they are potential entropy sources for hardware security primitives. Here, we demonstrate two types of spin–orbit torque (SOT)-based reconfigurable physically unclonable functions (rPUFs) that are based on process-induced SOT switching current variations and SOT-induced domain wall (DW) nonlinear dynamics, respectively. The experimental results show that both rPUFs have excellent performance in terms of reliability and uniqueness, and the performance is sustained after reconfiguring. Furthermore, the DW nonlinear dynamics-based rPUF can be reconfigured for an unlimited number of times with high uniformity. We believe that our work paves a way for information security and expands the application fields of spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]