Impact of Joule heating on the stability phase diagrams of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions

Measured switching voltage-field diagrams of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions exhibit unexpected behavior at high voltages associated with significant heating of the storage layer. The boundaries deviate from the critical lines corresponding to the coercive field, which contrasts with the theoretically predicted behavior of a standard macrospin-based model. Combining recent experimental studies of the temperature dependence of spin polarization and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, we are proposing a modified model. Our approach takes into account the Joule heating during the writing pulse, which reduces the spin polarization and the anisotropy, thereby reducing the spin torque efficiency and the coercive field during the switching. The numerical macrospin simulations based on this model are in agreement with our experimental measurements and consistent with the results derived from the linearization of Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation.

[1]  B. Diény,et al.  Respective influence of in-plane and out-of-plane spin-transfer torques in magnetization switching of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions , 2015, 1506.00780.

[2]  J. Nowak,et al.  Spin torque switching of perpendicular Ta∣CoFeB∣MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions , 2011 .

[3]  H. Ohno,et al.  A perpendicular-anisotropy CoFeB-MgO magnetic tunnel junction. , 2010, Nature materials.

[4]  H. Callen,et al.  The present status of the temperature dependence of magnetocrystalline anisotropy, and the l(l+1)2 power law , 1966 .

[5]  Yoshishige Suzuki,et al.  Quantitative Evaluation of Voltage-Induced Magnetic Anisotropy Change by Magnetoresistance Measurement , 2011 .

[6]  N. Tezuka,et al.  Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junctions With Low Resistance-Area Product: High Output Voltage and Bias Dependence of Magnetoresistance , 2016, IEEE Magnetics Letters.

[7]  B. Wees,et al.  Cooling and heating with electron spins: Observation of the spin Peltier effect , 2011, 1109.6898.

[8]  D Bedau,et al.  Temperature dependence of the spin torque effect in current-induced domain wall motion. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[9]  A. Fert,et al.  Current-induced magnetization switching in atom-thick tungsten engineered perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions with large tunnel magnetoresistance , 2017, Nature Communications.

[10]  W. Skowroński,et al.  Understanding stability diagram of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions , 2017, Scientific Reports.

[11]  Voltage control of magnetic anisotropy in epitaxial Ru/Co2FeAl/MgO heterostructures , 2016, Scientific reports.

[12]  Berger.  Emission of spin waves by a magnetic multilayer traversed by a current. , 1996, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[13]  B. Diény,et al.  Spin transfer torque switching assisted by thermally induced anisotropy reorientation in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions , 2011 .

[14]  A. Fert,et al.  Temperature dependence of the interfacial spin polarization of La 2'3 Sr 1'3 MnO 3 , 2004 .

[15]  B. Diény,et al.  Heating asymmetry induced by tunneling current flow in magnetic tunnel junctions , 2012 .

[16]  V. Tiberkevich,et al.  Nonlinear Auto-Oscillator Theory of Microwave Generation by Spin-Polarized Current , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

[17]  G. Finocchio,et al.  Origin of temperature and field dependence of magnetic skyrmion size in ultrathin nanodots , 2017, 1706.07569.

[18]  M. Gmitra,et al.  Current‐induced switching in spin‐valve structures , 2007 .

[19]  Y. Takemura,et al.  Effect of double MgO tunneling barrier on thermal stability and TMR ratio for perpendicular MTJ spin-valve with tungsten layers , 2016 .

[20]  D. Schwandt,et al.  Phase Diagram of a Frustrated Quantum Antiferromagnet on the Honeycomb Lattice: Magnetic Order versus Valence-Bond Crystal formation , 2011, 1102.5325.

[21]  P. Gaunt.  Ferromagnetic domain wall pinning by a random array of inhomogeneities , 1983 .

[22]  J. Slonczewski.  Current-driven excitation of magnetic multilayers , 1996 .

[23]  B. Diény,et al.  Enhanced annealing stability and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions using W layer , 2017 .

[24]  Shoji Ikeda,et al.  Properties of magnetic tunnel junctions with a MgO/CoFeB/Ta/CoFeB/MgO recording structure down to junction diameter of 11 nm , 2014 .

[25]  Magnetization switching assisted by high-frequency-voltage-induced ferromagnetic resonance , 2014 .

[26]  Shunsuke Fukami,et al.  Temperature dependence of carrier spin polarization determined from current-induced domain wall motion in a Co/Ni nanowire , 2012 .

[27]  G. Beach,et al.  Temperature dependence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in Pt/Co/Cu thin film heterostructures , 2018, Applied Physics Letters.

[28]  Jun Woo Choi,et al.  Temperature dependence of the interfacial magnetic anisotropy in W/CoFeB/MgO , 2017 .

[29]  B. Diény,et al.  Second order anisotropy contribution in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions , 2016, Scientific Reports.

[30]  Kang L. Wang,et al.  Temperature dependence of the voltage-controlled perpendicular anisotropy in nanoscale MgO|CoFeB|Ta magnetic tunnel junctions , 2014 .

[31]  B. Zink,et al.  Peltier cooling and onsager reciprocity in ferromagnetic thin films. , 2013, Physical review letters.

[32]  Masashi Shiraishi,et al.  Voltage-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy change in magnetic tunnel junctions , 2010 .

[33]  Hitoshi Kubota,et al.  High efficient spin transfer torque writing on perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions for high density MRAMs , 2010 .