The objective of this project is to combine the magneto-electric effect and the spin-orbit torque in heterostructures. The aim is to reduce the power consumption related to applications in magnetization switching, such as for MRAM memories.

Magnetoelectric oxides for spin-orbitronics​

Image caption: (a) The orthorhombic structure of Ga2- xFexO3 (GFO), showing the three octahedral (Oh) and one tetrahedral (Td) cationic sites. (b) Schematic diagram of the ME control of spin-orbit torque switching. The current Jc flowing in the Pt layer generates a transverse spin current Js thanks to the spin Hall effect. Js exerts a torque on the magnetization M of the magneto-electric (ME) GFO layer and possibly switch the magnetization M. A top gate voltage is applied in order to exploit the ME properties of the GFO layer.

The objective of this project is to combine the magneto-electric effect and the spin-orbit torque in heterostructures. The aim is to reduce the power consumption related to applications in magnetization switching, such as for MRAM memories.

It is expected that the effective spin-orbit torque in the magnetoelectric oxide (ME) Ga2-xFexO3 will be modified by the application of a gate voltage. With this modulation based on the ME effect, the inversion of the magnetization of the ferromagnetic (FM) layer induced by the spin Hall effect may require the injection of a lower electric current.

This study on “metals with strong spin-orbit coupling”/”magneto-electric oxide” interfaces should bring many advantages, from the progress of fundamental knowledge to applications related to low energy consumption based on spin-orbit effects.

 


Members:  The local MISSION team at IJL-Nancy is made up of the members of the SPIN group. In particular, Dr. Juan-Carlos Rojas-Sánchez (local PI), Dr. Sébastien Petit-Watelot (ultra-low noise magneto-transport at low and high frequencies, and FMR); Jon Gorchon (THz spintronics, pump-probe and magneto-optical experiments); Dr. Olivier Copie (oxides and PLD) and Karine Dumesnil (oxides and MBE).

We are proud to welcome the newest member, Dr Elodie Martin, who did his PhD at IPCMS, Strasbourg under the direction of Dr. Christophe Lefèvre. She has joined our MISSION project as a post-doc for two years since April 01, 2019.


Funding:  202 k€ (total 444 k€)

Scientific project timeline: 01/10/2018 – 30/09/2021


Participants

Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg (IPCMS) (Strasbourg, France)

Institut Jean Lamour (IJL) (Nancy, France)

New and events

– We organized the One-day international Online Workshop “Oxides for Spin-Orbitronics and Spin-Caloritronics 2021” The talks could be watched here.

– We have an accepted contribute talk at next 2022 Joint MMM-Intermag in New Orleans! Our talk is entitled Thermal spin current generation in the multifunctional ferrimagnet Ga0.6Fe1.4O3

Publications

Spin Current Transport in Hybrid Pt/Multifunctional Magnetoelectric Ga0.6Fe1.4O3 Bilayers. Suvidyakumar Homkar, Elodie Martin, Benjamin Meunier, Alberto Anadon-Barcelona, Corinne Bouillet, Jon Gorchon, Karine Dumesnil, Christophe Lefèvre, François Roulland, Olivier Copie, Daniele Preziosi, Sébastien Petit-Watelot, Juan-Carlos Rojas-Sánchez*, Nathalie Viart*. ACS Applied Electronic Materials 3, 4433 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.1c00586

Determination of spin Hall angle, spin mixing conductance, and spin diffusion length in CoFeB/Ir for spin-orbitronic devices. T Fache, JC Rojas-Sanchez*, L Badie, S Mangin, S Petit-Watelot*. Physical Review B 102, 064425 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.064425