The advent of spin transfer torque effect accommodates site-specific switching of magnetic nanostructures by current alone without magnetic field. However, the critical current density required for usual spin torque switching remains stubbornly high around 10(6)-10(7) A cm(-2). It would be fundamentally transformative if an electric field through a voltage could assist or accomplish the switching of ferromagnets. Here we report electric-field-assisted reversible switching in CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junctions with interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, where the coercivity, the magnetic configuration and the tunnelling magnetoresistance can be manipulated by voltage pulses associated with much smaller current densities. These results represent a crucial step towards ultralow energy switching in magnetic tunnel junctions, and open a new avenue for exploring other voltage-controlled spintronic devices.
The tunneling magnetoresistance and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CoFeB(1.1-1.2 nm)/ MgO/CoFeB(1.2-1.7 nm) junctions were found to be very sensitively dependent on annealing time. During annealing at a given temperature, decay of magnetoresistance occurs much earlier compared to junctions with in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Through a rapid thermal annealing study, the decrease of magnetoresistance is found to be associated with the degradation of perpendicular anisotropy, instead of impurity diffusion as observed in common in-plane junctions. The origin of the evolution of perpendicular anisotropy as well as possible means to further enhance tunneling magnetoresistance is discussed. V
In order to incorporate the extraordinary intrinsic thermal, electrical, mechanical, and optical properties of graphene with three dimensional (3D) flexible substrates, we introduce a solvent-driven self-folding approach using graphene-polymer bilayers. A polymer (SU-8) film was spin coated atop chemically vapor deposited graphene films on wafer substrates and graphene-polymer bilayers were patterned with or without metal electrodes using photolithography, thin film deposition, and etching. After patterning, the bilayers were released from the substrates and they self-folded to form fully integrated, curved, and folded structures. In contrast to planar graphene sensors on rigid substrates, we assembled curved and folded sensors that are flexible and they feature smaller form factors due to their 3D geometry and large surface areas due to their multiple rolled architectures. We believe that this approach could be used to assemble a range of high performance 3D electronic and optical devices of relevance to sensing, diagnostics, wearables, and energy harvesting.
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