Effect of Joule heating in current-driven domain wall motion

It was found that high current density needed for the current-driven domain wall motion results in the Joule heating of the sample. The sample temperature, when the current-driven domain wall motion occurred, was estimated by measuring the sample resistance during the application of a pulsed current. The sample temperature was 750 K for the threshold current density of 6.7×1011A∕m2 in a 10-nm-thick Ni81Fe19 wire with a width of 240 nm on thermally oxidized silicon substrate. The temperature was raised to 830 K for the current density of 7.5×1011A∕m2, which is very close to the Curie temperature of bulk Ni81Fe19. When the current density exceeded 7.5×1011A∕m2, an appearance of a multidomain structure in the wire was observed by magnetic force microscopy, suggesting that the sample temperature exceeded the Curie temperature.