Improving Néel Domain Walls Dynamics and Skyrmion Stability Using He Ion Irradiation.

Ion irradiation with light ions is an appealing way to finely tune the magnetic properties of thin magnetic films and in particular the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). In this work, the effect of He+ irradiation on the magnetization reversal and on the domain wall dynamics  of Pt/Co/AlOx trilayers is illustrated. Fluences up to 1.5 × 1015 ions cm-2 strongly decrease the PMA, without affecting neither the spontaneous magnetization nor the strength of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). This confirms experimentally the robustness of the DMI interaction against interfacial chemical intermixing, already predicted by theory. In parallel with the decrease of the PMA, a strong decrease of the domain wall depinning field is observed after irradiation. This allows the domain walls to reach large maximum velocities with a lower magnetic field compared to that needed for the pristine films. Decoupling PMA from DMI can, therefore, be beneficial for the design of low energy devices based on domain wall dynamics. When the samples are irradiated with larger He+ fluences, the magnetization gets close to the out-of-plane/in-plane reorientation transition, where ≈100nm size magnetic skyrmions are stabilized. It is observed that as the He+ fluence increases, the skyrmion size decreases while these magnetic textures become more stable against the application of an external magnetic field, as predicted by theoretical models developed for ultrathin films with labyrinthine domains.

Forecasting the outcome of spintronic experiments with Neural Ordinary Differential Equations.

Deep learning has an increasing impact to assist research, allowing, for example, the discovery of novel materials. Until now, however, these artificial intelligence techniques have fallen short of discovering the full differential equation of an experimental physical system. Here we show that a dynamical neural network, trained on a minimal amount of data, can predict the behavior of spintronic devices with high accuracy and an extremely efficient simulation time, compared to the micromagnetic simulations that are usually employed to model them. For this purpose, we re-frame the formalism of Neural Ordinary Differential Equations to the constraints of spintronics: few measured outputs, multiple inputs and internal parameters. We demonstrate with Neural Ordinary Differential Equations an acceleration factor over 200 compared to micromagnetic simulations for a complex problem - the simulation of a reservoir computer made of magnetic skyrmions (20 minutes compared to three days). In a second realization, we show that we can predict the noisy response of experimental spintronic nano-oscillators to varying inputs after training Neural Ordinary Differential Equations on five milliseconds of their measured response to a different set of inputs. Neural Ordinary Differential Equations can therefore constitute a disruptive tool for developing spintronic applications in complement to micromagnetic simulations, which are time-consuming and cannot fit experiments when noise or imperfections are present. Our approach can also be generalized to other electronic devices involving dynamics.

Helium Ions Put Magnetic Skyrmions on the Track.

Magnetic skyrmions are deemed to be the forerunners of novel spintronic memory and logic devices. While their observation and their current-driven motion at room temperature have been demonstrated, certain issues regarding their nucleation, stability, pinning, and skyrmion Hall effect still need to be overcome to realize functional devices. Here, we demonstrate that focused He+-ion-irradiation can be used to create and guide skyrmions in racetracks. We show that the reduction of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the track defined by ion-irradiation leads to the formation of stable isolated skyrmions. Current-driven skyrmion motion experiments and simulations reveal that the skyrmions move along the irradiated track, resulting in the suppression of the skyrmion Hall effect, and that the maximum skyrmion velocity can be enhanced by tuning the magnetic properties. These results open up a new path to nucleate and guide magnetic skyrmions in racetrack devices.

Magnetoresistive sensors based on the elasticity of domain walls.

Magnetic sensors based on magnetoresistance effects have promising application prospects due to their excellent sensitivity and their advantages in terms of integration. However, the competition between higher sensitivity and a larger measuring range remains a problem. Here, we propose a novel mechanism for designing magnetoresistive sensors: probing the perpendicular field by detecting the expansion of the elastic magnetic domain wall in the free layer of a spin valve or a magnetic tunnel junction. The performances of devices based on this mechanism, such as the sensitivity and the measuring range, can be tuned by manipulating the geometry of the device. This can be achieved without changing the intrinsic properties of the material, thus promising a higher integration level and a better performance. The mechanism is theoretically explained based on the experimental results. Two examples are proposed and their functionality and performances are verified via a micromagnetic simulation.

Universal domain wall dynamics under electric field in Ta/CoFeB/MgO devices with perpendicular anisotropy.

Electric field effects in ferromagnetic metal/dielectric structures provide a new route to control domain wall dynamics with low-power dissipation. However, electric field effects on domain wall velocities have only been observed so far in the creep regime where domain wall velocities are low due to strong interactions with pinning sites. Here we show gate voltage modulation of domain wall velocities ranging from the creep to the flow regime in Ta/Co40Fe40B20/MgO/TiO2 structures with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. We demonstrate a universal description of the role of applied electric fields in the various pinning-dependent regimes by taking into account an effective magnetic field being linear with the electric field. In addition, the electric field effect is found to change sign in the Walker regime. Our results are consistent with voltage-induced modification of magnetic anisotropy. Our work opens new opportunities for the study and optimization of electric field effect at ferromagnetic metal/insulator interfaces.

Ring-shaped Racetrack memory based on spin orbit torque driven chiral domain wall motions.

Racetrack memory (RM) has sparked enormous interest thanks to its outstanding potential for low-power, high-density and high-speed data storage. However, since it requires bi-directional domain wall (DW) shifting process for outputting data, the mainstream stripe-shaped concept certainly suffers from the data overflow issue. This geometrical restriction leads to increasing complexity of peripheral circuits or programming as well as undesirable reliability issue. In this work, we propose and study ring-shaped RM, which is based on an alternative mechanism, spin orbit torque (SOT) driven chiral DW motions. Micromagnetic simulations have been carried out to validate its functionality and exhibit its performance advantages. The current flowing through the heavy metal instead of ferromagnetic layer realizes the "end to end" circulation of storage data, which remains all the data in the device even if they are shifted. It blazes a promising path for application of RM in practical memory and logic.

Failure Analysis in Magnetic Tunnel Junction Nanopillar with Interfacial Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy.

Magnetic tunnel junction nanopillar with interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA-MTJ) becomes a promising candidate to build up spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) for the next generation of non-volatile memory as it features low spin transfer switching current, fast speed, high scalability, and easy integration into conventional complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits. However, this device suffers from a number of failure issues, such as large process variation and tunneling barrier breakdown. The large process variation is an intrinsic issue for PMA-MTJ as it is based on the interfacial effects between ultra-thin films with few layers of atoms; the tunneling barrier breakdown is due to the requirement of an ultra-thin tunneling barrier (e.g., <1 nm) to reduce the resistance area for the spin transfer torque switching in the nanopillar. These failure issues limit the research and development of STT-MRAM to widely achieve commercial products. In this paper, we give a full analysis of failure mechanisms for PMA-MTJ and present some eventual solutions from device fabrication to system level integration to optimize the failure issues.

Strain-controlled magnetic domain wall propagation in hybrid piezoelectric/ferromagnetic structures.

The control of magnetic order in nanoscale devices underpins many proposals for integrating spintronics concepts into conventional electronics. A key challenge lies in finding an energy-efficient means of control, as power dissipation remains an important factor limiting future miniaturization of integrated circuits. One promising approach involves magnetoelectric coupling in magnetostrictive/piezoelectric systems, where induced strains can bear directly on the magnetic anisotropy. While such processes have been demonstrated in several multiferroic heterostructures, the incorporation of such complex materials into practical geometries has been lacking. Here we demonstrate the possibility of generating sizeable anisotropy changes, through induced strains driven by applied electric fields, in hybrid piezoelectric/spin-valve nanowires. By combining magneto-optical Kerr effect and magnetoresistance measurements, we show that domain wall propagation fields can be doubled under locally applied strains. These results highlight the prospect of constructing low-power domain wall gates for magnetic logic devices.