Perpendicular magnetization switching by large spin—orbit torques from sputtered Bi2Te3

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/ab9439

Abstract Spin-orbit torque (SOT) effect is considered as an efficient way to switch the magnetization and can inspire various high-performance spintronic devices. Recently, topological insulators (TIs) have gained extensive attention, as they are demonstrated to maintain a large effective spin Hall angle (θ_SH^eff), even at room temperature. However, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), as a precise deposition method, is required to guarantee favorable surface states of TIs, which hinders the prospect of TIs towards industrial application. In this paper, we demonstrate that Bi₂Te₃ films grown by magnetron sputtering can provide a notable SOT effect in the heterostructure with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy CoTb ferrimagnetic alloy. By harmonic Hall measurement, a high SOT efficiency (8.7±0.9 Oe/(10⁹ A/m²)) and a large θ_SH^eff (3.3±0.3) are obtained at room temperature. Besides, we also observe an ultra-low critical switching current density (9.7×10⁹ A/m²). Moreover, the low-power characteristic of the sputtered Bi₂Te₃ film is investigated by drawing a comparison with different sputtered SOT sources. Our work may provide an alternative to leverage chalcogenides as a realistic and efficient SOT source in future spintronic devices.

Keywords: spin-orbit torque sputtered topological insulator ferrimagnet magnetization switching

Received: 02 April 2020
Revised: 13 May 2020
Accepted manuscript online:

PACS:	85.70.-w	(Magnetic devices)
	75.60.Jk	(Magnetization reversal mechanisms)
	75.70.Tj	(Spin-orbit effects)

Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61971024 and 51901008), Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program by CAST (Grant No. 2017QNRC001), the International Mobility Project (Grant No. B16001), and National Key Technology Program of China (Grant No. 2017ZX01032101). P.K.A. acknowledges support by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (NSF ECCS-1853879).

Corresponding Authors: Yue Zhang, Weisheng Zhao
E-mail: yz@buaa.edu.cn;weisheng.zhao@buaa.edu.cn

Cite this article:

Zhenyi Zheng(郑臻益), Yue Zhang(张悦), Daoqian Zhu(朱道乾), Kun Zhang(张昆), Xueqiang Feng(冯学强), Yu He(何宇), Lei Chen(陈磊), Zhizhong Zhang(张志仲), Dijun Liu(刘迪军), Youguang Zhang(张有光), Pedram Khalili Amiri, Weisheng Zhao(赵巍胜) Perpendicular magnetization switching by large spin—orbit torques from sputtered Bi₂Te₃ 2020 Chin. Phys. B 29 078505

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Perpendicular magnetization switching by large spin—orbit torques from sputtered Bi2Te3

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Perpendicular magnetization switching by large spin—orbit torques from sputtered Bi₂Te₃