Giant voltage manipulation of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions via localized anisotropic strain: A potential pathway to ultra-energy-efficient memory technology

Zhengyang Zhao; Mahdi Jamali; Noel D'Souza; Delin Zhang; Supriyo Bandyopadhyay; Jayasimha Atulasimha; Jian Ping Wang

doi:10.1063/1.4961670

Giant voltage manipulation of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions via localized anisotropic strain: A potential pathway to ultra-energy-efficient memory technology

Zhengyang Zhao, Mahdi Jamali, Noel D'Souza, Delin Zhang, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Jayasimha Atulasimha, Jian Ping Wang

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

63 Scopus citations

Abstract

Voltage control of magnetization via strain in piezoelectric/magnetostrictive systems is a promising mechanism to implement energy-efficient straintronic memory devices. Here, we demonstrate giant voltage manipulation of MgO magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) on a Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.7Ti_0.3O₃ piezoelectric substrate with (001) orientation. It is found that the magnetic easy axis, switching field, and the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of the MTJ can be efficiently controlled by strain from the underlying piezoelectric layer upon the application of a gate voltage. Repeatable voltage controlled MTJ toggling between high/low-resistance states is demonstrated. More importantly, instead of relying on the intrinsic anisotropy of the piezoelectric substrate to generate the required strain, we utilize anisotropic strain produced using a local gating scheme, which is scalable and amenable to practical memory applications. Additionally, the adoption of crystalline MgO-based MTJ on piezoelectric layer lends itself to high TMR in the strain-mediated MRAM devices.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	092403
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	109
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4961670
State	Published - Aug 29 2016

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by the Center for Spintronic Materials, Interfaces and Novel Architectures (C-SPIN), one of six SRC STARnet Centers. N. D'Souza and J. Atulasimha were partially supported by NSF CAREER Grant No. CCF-1253370. S. Bandyopadhyay was supported by the NSF Grant No. ECCS 1124714.

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title = "Giant voltage manipulation of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions via localized anisotropic strain: A potential pathway to ultra-energy-efficient memory technology",

abstract = "Voltage control of magnetization via strain in piezoelectric/magnetostrictive systems is a promising mechanism to implement energy-efficient straintronic memory devices. Here, we demonstrate giant voltage manipulation of MgO magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) on a Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.7Ti0.3O3 piezoelectric substrate with (001) orientation. It is found that the magnetic easy axis, switching field, and the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of the MTJ can be efficiently controlled by strain from the underlying piezoelectric layer upon the application of a gate voltage. Repeatable voltage controlled MTJ toggling between high/low-resistance states is demonstrated. More importantly, instead of relying on the intrinsic anisotropy of the piezoelectric substrate to generate the required strain, we utilize anisotropic strain produced using a local gating scheme, which is scalable and amenable to practical memory applications. Additionally, the adoption of crystalline MgO-based MTJ on piezoelectric layer lends itself to high TMR in the strain-mediated MRAM devices.",

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AU - Zhang, Delin

AU - Bandyopadhyay, Supriyo

AU - Atulasimha, Jayasimha

AU - Wang, Jian Ping

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N2 - Voltage control of magnetization via strain in piezoelectric/magnetostrictive systems is a promising mechanism to implement energy-efficient straintronic memory devices. Here, we demonstrate giant voltage manipulation of MgO magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) on a Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.7Ti0.3O3 piezoelectric substrate with (001) orientation. It is found that the magnetic easy axis, switching field, and the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of the MTJ can be efficiently controlled by strain from the underlying piezoelectric layer upon the application of a gate voltage. Repeatable voltage controlled MTJ toggling between high/low-resistance states is demonstrated. More importantly, instead of relying on the intrinsic anisotropy of the piezoelectric substrate to generate the required strain, we utilize anisotropic strain produced using a local gating scheme, which is scalable and amenable to practical memory applications. Additionally, the adoption of crystalline MgO-based MTJ on piezoelectric layer lends itself to high TMR in the strain-mediated MRAM devices.

AB - Voltage control of magnetization via strain in piezoelectric/magnetostrictive systems is a promising mechanism to implement energy-efficient straintronic memory devices. Here, we demonstrate giant voltage manipulation of MgO magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) on a Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.7Ti0.3O3 piezoelectric substrate with (001) orientation. It is found that the magnetic easy axis, switching field, and the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of the MTJ can be efficiently controlled by strain from the underlying piezoelectric layer upon the application of a gate voltage. Repeatable voltage controlled MTJ toggling between high/low-resistance states is demonstrated. More importantly, instead of relying on the intrinsic anisotropy of the piezoelectric substrate to generate the required strain, we utilize anisotropic strain produced using a local gating scheme, which is scalable and amenable to practical memory applications. Additionally, the adoption of crystalline MgO-based MTJ on piezoelectric layer lends itself to high TMR in the strain-mediated MRAM devices.

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Giant voltage manipulation of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions via localized anisotropic strain: A potential pathway to ultra-energy-efficient memory technology

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