Single antiferromagnetic skyrmion transistor based on strain manipulation

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are envisioned as ideal candidates as information carriers for future spintronic devices, which have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. In this paper, we design a spintronic device based on antiferromagnetic skyrmions, which is a single antiferromagnetic skyrmion transistor. The transistor consists of a source, a skyrmion island, a barrier region, and a drain. The barrier region is controlled by strains. We demonstrate the feasibility of the transistor by micromagnetic simulations. We find that the number of skyrmions that can pass the barrier region can be controlled by adjusting the strength of strain in the barrier region and the current density. In an appropriate current-strain region, skyrmions can flow from the skyrmion island to the drain one by one. This mechanism offers a promising route for designing tunable skyrmionic-mechanic devices.

Antiferromagnetism Emerging in a Ferromagnet with Gain

“…Compared to their FM counterparts, AFM skyrmions [47] have some other advantages, such as the elevated mobility [48][49][50][51] and the unusual thermal properties [48,52], among others [53][54][55][56][57]. One recent breakthrough toward this direction is the experimental realization of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films with inhibited skyrmion Hall effect [58,59].…”

Energy-efficient ultrafast nucleation of single and multiple antiferromagnetic skyrmions using in-plane spin polarized current

“…We now compare the nucleation of AFM skyrmion using in-plane spin polarized current ( ) discussed above with that of out-of-plane spin polarized current ( ) as studied in previous works 36 , 46 , 56 . We perform an independent set of simulation with out-of-plane polarized current ( ) with the same parameters that we have used for in-plane polarized case.…”

“…The dynamics of the moments of antiferromagnet falls in the ultrafast (THz regime), which is an additional advantage of these materials in spintronics applications 43 – 45 . Several methods have been proposed to nucleate AFM skyrmion such as by spin polarized current 36 , 46 , 47 , and by use of short laser pulse 48 . So far the studies on nucleation of AFM skyrmions using spin polarized current have focused on out-of-plane spin polarized current, which needs an out-of-plane magnetized spin polarizing layer for operation.…”

Traps for pinning and scattering of antiferromagnetic skyrmions via magnetic properties engineering

“…As a result, dynamics of quasiparticle can be manipulated and used to engineer spintronic devices 69,70 . For instance, it has been recently proposed a transistor that employs antiferromagnetic skyrmions 71 . Various spintronic technologies require traps to stabilize the quasiparticle at predefined positions along the magnetic nanotrack.…”