Ultralow power spin–orbit torque magnetization switching induced by a non-epitaxial topological insulator on Si substrates

The large spin Hall effect in topological insulators (TIs) is very attractive for ultralow-power spintronic devices. However, evaluation of the spin Hall angle and spin–orbit torque (SOT) of TIs is usually performed on high-quality single-crystalline TI thin films grown on dedicated III-V semiconduc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2020-07, Vol.10 (1), p.12185-12185, Article 12185
Main Authors: Khang, Nguyen Huynh Duy, Nakano, Soichiro, Shirokura, Takanori, Miyamoto, Yasuyoshi, Hai, Pham Nam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/1005
639/301/357
Heavy metals
Humanities and Social Sciences
Magnetism
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Silicon dioxide
Thin films
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Summary:The large spin Hall effect in topological insulators (TIs) is very attractive for ultralow-power spintronic devices. However, evaluation of the spin Hall angle and spin–orbit torque (SOT) of TIs is usually performed on high-quality single-crystalline TI thin films grown on dedicated III-V semiconductor substrates. Here, we report on room-temperature ultralow power SOT magnetization switching of a ferrimagnetic layer by non-epitaxial BiSb TI thin films deposited on Si/SiO 2 substrates. We show that non-epitaxial BiSb thin films outperform heavy metals and other epitaxial TI thin films in terms of the effective spin Hall angle and switching current density by one to nearly two orders of magnitude. The critical SOT switching current density in BiSb is as low as 7 × 10 4  A/cm 2 at room temperature. The robustness of BiSb against crystal defects demonstrate its potential applications to SOT-based spintronic devices.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-69027-6