Search

Two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic materials with unique magnetic properties have great potential for next-generation spintronic devices with high flexibility, easy controllability, and high heretointegrability. However, realizing magnetic switching with low power consumption at room temperature is challenging. Here, we demonstrate the room-temperature spin-orbit torque (SOT) driven magnetization switching in an all-van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure using an optimized epitaxial growth approach. The topological insulator Bi2Te3 not only raises the Curie temperature of Fe3GeTe2 (FGT) through interfacial exchange coupling but also works as a spin current source allowing the FGT to switch at a low current density of ~2.2×106 A/cm2. The SOT efficiency is ~2.69, measured at room temperature. The temperature and thickness-dependent SOT efficiency prove that the larger SOT in our system mainly originates from the nontrivial topological origin of the heterostructure. Our experiments enable an all-vdW SOT structure and provides a solid foundation for the implementation of room-temperature all-vdW spintronic devices in the future. Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) exhibits remarkable device endurance, while also offering potential operation speed and energy efficiency improvements compared to conventional random access memory. However, challenges remain, both in terms of efficiency, and miniaturization. Here, Wang et al demonstrate a van der Waals (vdW) based spin-orbit torque switching, in a Fe3GeTe2/Bi2Te3 heterostructure, paving the way for thinner and higher efficiency spin-orbit torque based vdW MRAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) holds promises for design and control of chiral spin textures in low-dimensional magnets with efficient current-driven dynamics. Recently, an interlayer DMI has been found to exist across magnetic multilayers with a heavy-metal spacer between magnetic layers. This opens the possibility of chirality in these three-dimensional magnetic structures. Here we show the existence of the interlayer DMI in a synthetic antiferromagnetic multilayer with both inversion and in-plane asymmetry. We analyse the interlayer DMI's effects on the magnetization and the current-induced spin-orbit torque (SOT) switching of magnetization through a combination of experimental and numerical studies. The chiral nature of the interlayer DMI leads to an asymmetric SOT switching of magnetization under an in-plane magnetic field. Our work paves the way for further explorations on controlling chiral magnetizations across magnetic multilayers through SOTs, which can provide a new path in the design of SOT devices. Exchange interactions between spins in a magnetic system can be engineered using magnetic multilayer systems in order to investigate a rich variety of magnetic phenomenon. Here the authors investigate the nature and control of magnetization of a synthetic antiferromagnetic stack with built in planar asymmetry and find evidence of an asymmetric current-driven switching in the chiral magnetization across the magnetic multilayers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]