Tunnel-mediated coupling between antiferromagnetic thin films

Leroy, M.; Bataille, A. M.; Dkhil, Brahim; Porcher, Florence; Barbier, Antoine; Jacques, Vincent; Lü, Yuan; Bellouard, C.; Hauet, Thomas; Ravy, S.; Herrero‐Martín, Javier; Gatel, Christophe; Bouzéhouane, K.; Gukasov, Arsen; Andrieu, S.; Tiuşan, C.

doi:10.1103/physrevb.90.035432

Cited by 9 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In Cr/MgO/Cr tunnel junctions, they demonstrated tunnel magnetic coupling between the antiferromagnetic Cr layers through the MgO insulator. They showed that this coupling can be amplified thanks to the presence of resonant states exhibiting the same Δ 5 symmetry at the interface (Leroy et al, 2014).…”

Section: Tunnel Magnetoresistancementioning

confidence: 99%

Antiferromagnetic spintronics

et al. 2018

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Antiferromagnetic materials could represent the future of spintronic applications thanks to the numerous interesting features they combine: they are robust against perturbation due to magnetic fields, produce no stray fields, display ultrafast dynamics, and are capable of generating large magnetotransport effects. Intense research efforts over the past decade have been invested in unraveling spin transport properties in antiferromagnetic materials. Whether spin transport can be used to drive the antiferromagnetic order and how subsequent variations can be detected are some of the thrilling challenges currently being addressed. Antiferromagnetic spintronics started out with studies on spin transfer and has undergone a definite revival in the last few years with the publication of pioneering articles on the use of spin-orbit interactions in antiferromagnets. This paradigm shift offers possibilities for radically new concepts for spin manipulation in electronics. Central to these endeavors are the need for predictive models, relevant disruptive materials, and new experimental designs. This paper reviews the most prominent spintronic effects described based on theoretical and experimental analysis of antiferromagnetic materials. It also details some of the remaining bottlenecks and suggests possible avenues for future research. This review covers both spin-transfer-related effects, such as spin-transfer torque, spin penetration length, domain-wall motion, and "magnetization" dynamics, and spin-orbit related phenomena, such as (tunnel) anisotropic magnetoresistance, spin Hall, and inverse spin galvanic effects. Effects related to spin caloritronics, such as the spin Seebeck effect, are linked to the transport of magnons in antiferromagnets. The propagation of spin waves and spin superfluids in antiferromagnets is also covered.

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Section: Tunnel Magnetoresistancementioning

confidence: 99%

Antiferromagnetic spintronics

et al. 2018

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“…Second, because up-and down-spin subbands are degenerate in antiferromagnets, the torque efficiency in AF-MTJs is much more robust against disorder than in F-MTJs. This shows that AF-MTJs, such as Cr/MgO/Cr [39,40], are solid candidates for the realization of spin transfer torque in antiferromagnets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Such interfacial states have been identified in thin Fe(100)/MgO(100)/Fe(100) magnetic tunnel junctions [37,38] and, more recently, in Cr(001)/MgO(001)/Cr(001) antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions [39], associated with the surface states of Cr. Such states are believed to be responsible for tunneling magnetic coupling between the Cr electrodes [40] and could have an influence on spin transport.…”

Section: Beyond the Idealized Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Robust spin transfer torque in antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions

2017

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We theoretically study the current-induced spin torque in antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions, composed of two semi-infinite antiferromagnetic layers separated by a tunnel barrier, in both clean and disordered regimes. We find that the torque enabling electrical manipulation of the Néel antiferromagnetic order parameter is out of plane, ∼ n × p, while the torque competing with the antiferromagnetic exchange is in plane, ∼ n × (p × n). Here, p and n are the Néel order parameter direction of the reference and free layers, respectively. Their bias dependence shows behavior similar to that in ferromagnetic tunnel junctions, the in-plane torque being mostly linear in bias, while the out-of-plane torque is quadratic. Most importantly, we find that the spin transfer torque in antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions is much more robust against disorder than that in antiferromagnetic metallic spin valves due to the tunneling nature of spin transport.

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“…Cr and Pt were deposited by MBE at about 0.3 nm/min, as checked by a quartz microbalance. The substrate was kept at 373 K during Cr deposition [31], whereas Pt was grown at room temperature (RT). Prior to Pt deposition, post-annealing was performed on selected Cr films at different temperatures (523 K, 873 K).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chromium thin films are definitely easier to prepare than binary or ternary compounds (such as Mn2Au, IrMn, CuMnAs), because there is no need to satisfy stoichiometry constraints to obtain the AFM phase. Epitaxial single crystals can be obtained using molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) [25,26] or magnetron sputtering [27] on top of several metals (e.g., Au [28], Ag [29], and Fe [30]) and oxides (e.g., MgO [31], SrTiO3 [32], TiO2 [33], and Al2O3 [34]). The structural and transport properties of thin epitaxial films have been addressed by different techniques (see, e.g., the synchrotron-based studies of charge-density, strain and spin-density waves reported in Refs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study and optimization of epitaxial films of Cr and Pt/Cr bilayers on MgO

Rinaldi

Asa

Chrastina

et al. 2019

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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We report a systematic study of the fabrication and chemical and structural characterization of epitaxial Cr films and Pt/Cr bilayers on MgO substrates. Cr films of different thicknesses were grown by molecular beam epitaxy at 373 K and then post-annealed at different temperatures. These films are chemically stable, present a well-ordered tetragonal structure, with only a low degree of oxidation distributed throughout the films. The lattice parameter can be finely tuned by varying the film thickness and the post-annealing temperature, as the elastic energy is progressively relaxed by edge dislocations, so that the film can approach the structural and electrical properties of bulk chromium. Moreover, the chemical and structural properties of Cr are not affected by a Pt capping layer, which grows in a well-ordered Pt[110]||Cr[100] orientation, holding potential for applications in recently proposed Pt/Cr-based antiferromagnet spintronics and for the realization of epitaxial Pt films on MgO by using a thin buffer layer of chromium.

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Tunnel-mediated coupling between antiferromagnetic thin films

Cited by 9 publications

References 39 publications

Antiferromagnetic spintronics

Antiferromagnetic spintronics

Robust spin transfer torque in antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions

Study and optimization of epitaxial films of Cr and Pt/Cr bilayers on MgO

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