Origin of the Resistance-Area-Product Dependence of Spin-Transfer-Torque Switching in Perpendicular Magnetic Random-Access Memory Cells
Abstract
We report on an experimental study of current-induced switching in perpendicular magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) cells with variable resistance-area products (RAs). Our results show that in addition to spin-transfer torque (STT), current-induced self-heating and voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy also contribute to switching and can explain the RA dependencies of the switching-current density and STT efficiency. Our findings suggest that thermal optimization of perpendicular MRAM cells can result in significant reduction of switching currents.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Applied
- Pub Date:
- February 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.13.024004
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1905.02673
- Bibcode:
- 2020PhRvP..13b4004M
- Keywords:
-
- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;
- Physics - Applied Physics