We present here a concept of a memory cell called MELRAM based on a magnetic element with giant magnetostriction, embedded in a piezoelectric matrix. Two equilibrium orientations of magnetization are defined by combining uniaxial anisotropy together with a magnetic polarization in the hard axis direction. Using the piezoelectric matrix, an anisotropic stress is created onto the magnetic element when applying a voltage across electrodes. Thanks to the inverse magnetostrictive effect, the effective anisotropy of the magnetic element is controlled by the applied voltage and used to switch magnetization from one state to the other. Micromagnetic simulations show the effect of applied stress on magnetization and theoretical feasibility of the device. Retrieval of information can be nondestructively made by giant magnetoresistance reading. Details of the principle, simulations, and performance perspectives are discussed.
The possibility of control and tuning of the band structures of phononic crystals offered by the introduction of an active magnetoelastic material and the application of an external magnetic field is studied. Two means to obtain large elastic properties variations in magnetoelastic material are considered: Giant magnetostriction and spin reorientation transition effects. A plane wave expansion method is used to calculate the band structures. The magnetoelastic coupling is taken into account through the consideration of an equivalent piezomagnetic material model with elastic, piezomagnetic, and magnetic permeability tensors varying as a function of the amplitude and orientation of the applied magnetic field. Results of contactless tunability of the absolute bandgap are presented for a two-dimensional phononic crystal constituted of Terfenol-D square rod embedded in an epoxy matrix. V
Magnetic memory cells associated with the stress-mediated magnetoelectric effect promise extremely low bit-writing energies. Most investigations have focused on the process of writing information in memory cells, and very few on readout schemes. The usual assumption is that the readout will be achieved using magnetoresistive structures such as Giant Magneto-Resistive stacks or Magnetic Tunnel Junctions. Since the writing energy is very low in the magnetoelectric systems, the readout energy using magnetoresistive approaches becomes non negligible. Incidentally, the magneto-electric interaction itself contains the potentiality of the readout of the information encoded in the magnetic subsystem. In this letter, the principle of magnetoelectric readout of the information by an electric field in a composite multiferroic heterostructure is considered theoretically and demonstrated experimentally using [N×(TbCo2/FeCo)]/[Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3](1−x)−[PbTiO3]x stress-mediated ME heterostructures.
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