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Spin-polarized Current Switching of Co/Cu/Py Pac-man type II Spin-valve

Journal of Magnetics, Volume 15, Number 3, 30 Sep 2010, Pages 103-107
Andrew Lyle (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and MINT Center, The University of Alabama), Yang-Ki Hong * (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and MINT Center, The University of Alabama), Byoung-Chul Choi (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria), Gavin Abo (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and MINT Center, The University of Alabama), Seok Bae (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and MINT Center, The University of Alabama), Jeevan Jalli (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and MINT Center, The University of Alabama), Jae-jin Lee (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and MINT Center, The University of Alabama), Mun-Hyoun Park (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies), Ryan Syslo (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and MINT Center, The University of Alabama)
Abstract

We investigated spin-polarized current switching of Pac-man type II (PM-II) nanoelements in Pac-man shaped nanoscale spin-valves (Co/Cu/Py) using micromagnetic simulations. The effects of slot angle and antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer were simulated to obtain optimum switching in less than 2 ns. At a critical slot angle of 105°, the lowest current density for anti-parallel to parallel (AP-P) switching was observed due to no vortex or antivortex formation during the magnetic reversal process. All other slot angles for AP-P formed a vortex or antivortex during the magnetization reversal process. Additionally, a vortex or anti-vortex formed for all slot angles for parallel to anti-parallel (P-AP) switching. The addition of an AFM layer caused the current density to decrease significantly for AP-P and P-AP at slot angles less than 90°. However, at slot angles greater than 90°, the current density tended to decrease by less amounts or actually increased slightly as shape anisotropy became more dominant. This allowed ultra-fast switching with 5.05 and 5.65 x 108 A/cm2 current densities for AP-P and P-AP, respectively, at a slot angle of 105°.

 

Keywords: MRAM; micromagnetic simulation; pac-man; spin-polarized current
DOI: 10.4283/JMAG.2010.15.3.103
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