Current research in current-driven

magnetization dynamics
S. Zhang, University of Missouri-Columbia
Beijing, Feb. 14, 2006
Outlines
Magentoelectronics started from discovery of giant
magnetoresistive (GMR) effect

Spin-dependent transport in magnetic metal based
nanostructures

Spin angular momemtum transfer: physics and potential
technology

Perspectives and conclusions



M.N. Baibich et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 2472 (1988).
40 0
110
H (kOe)
-40
H // [ 011]
What is giant magnetoresistance?
R
Origin of GMRtwo current model
e
e
e
e
E
F
A ferromagnet
Different numbers of
up and down electrons
R R
| +
=
Up and down resistances
Low resistance
High resistance
GMR Reading head
Bit width
Bit length
Conductor
lead
J
M Spin
valve
Spin valve
OR
M
NM
M

AF
0
1
Concert efforts: theorists, experiments and
technologists on GMR
Theorists: predict, explain, model and design GMR
effects and devices

Experimentalists: design, fabricate, characterize, and
measure GMR devices

Technologists: produce, evaluate, pattern, integrate, and
deliver GMR devices
It would be otherwise impossible to push
the information storage so rapidly
History of magentic tapes and hard disks
Now: 80Gbits/in2

5 years: 1
Terabits/in2
In 1988, giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) was discovered;
in 1996, GMR reading heads were commercialized
Since 2000: Virtually all writing heads are GMR heads
GND
Magnetoelectronics: Magnetic Tunnel Junctions
High tunneling probability
Low resistance
Low tunneling probability
High resistance
Al-O barrier
Cu (30)
IrMn
Co-Fe-B(4)
Ta (5)
IrMn (12)
Al-O (0.8)
Cu (20)
Ta (5)
Py (5)
Ta (5)
Co-Fe-B(4)
-1500 -1000 -500 0 500
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
T=4.2 K
Rp=23.4 O
RS=4.68 kOm
2
TMR=95.4%


T
M
R

(
%
)
H (Oe)
(b)
TMR curves measured at RT (a) and 4.2 K (b) for
the Co-Fe-B/Al
2
O
3
/Co-Fe-B junction after annealing.
Annealed at 265
0
C
T=300 K
S=10 x 20 m
2
Rp=22.3 O
RS=4.46 kOm
2
TMR=58.5%


T
M
R

(
%
)
(a)
V
Source: Dr. Xiufeng Han
Brief History of TMJ
1974, M. Julliere (a graduate student) published an
experiment article which claimed 14% TMR in Fe/Ge/Fe
trilayers. A simple model was proposed (the paper
became a sleeping giant).
1982, IBM reported 2% TMR on Ni/AlO/Ni.
1995, Moodera (MIT) and Miyazaki (Japan) reported
10% TMR for Co/AlO/Co.
1998, DARPA launched MRAM solicitation
1999, Motorolas 128kB MRAM demo
2003, IBM, Motolora, 4Mb MRAM chip demo
More than 10 startup MRAM companies formed.
MRAM becomes internationally recognized future
technology
Emerging non-volatile memory technologies
Flow
Spin
Quantity
FRAM
PCRAM
MRAM
PFRAM SiC Bipolar
PMC
Molecular
Polymer Perovskite
NanoXtal
3DROM
Current-driven spin torques
GMR/TMR: magnetization states control spin transport
(low-high resistance).

Adverse effect: spin transport (spin current) affects
magnetization states?

Every action will have reactionspin transfer
T
spin angular momentum transfer?
Momentum transferelectromigration



Angular momentum transfermagnetization dynamics
An impurity atom receives a force by
absorbing a net momentum of electrons:
electromigration is one of the major failure
mechanisms in semiconductor devices.
F
The atom receives a torque by absorbing
a net spin angular momentum of electrons:
the spin torque can be used for spintronics
Interaction between spin polarized current and
magnetization (J. Slonczewski, IBM)
m m
out in
m e B
out
m e B
in P
dM
J J
dt
J PJ M
e
J PJ M
e

=
=
=
M
p

M
Spin torque on the magnetic layer M
( )
/
J P
e
J B
dM
a M M M
dt
a PJ e
=
=
c c
= =
c c
0, 0
t t
u |
Current torque on DW
(Magnetic field pressure on DW, )
c c
= =
c c
0, 0
t t
u |
Massless motion!!
From Sadamichi Maekawa
Current induced Domain wall motion
Magnetization dynamics: LLG equation
(micromagnetics)
1;| | | | 1; 1
( )
( )
( )
J P
J J
eff
eff
p
eff
b
a m m m
m m
m m c m
x x
dm dm
m H m
dt dt
dm dm
m H m
dt dt
m m V
E m
H
m
o
o

= + +
= + +
= = = =
c

c c

=
+
c
c
c
LLG+spin torque
Where
Spin valve
Domain wall
Novelty of spin transfer torques
Manipulation of magnetization states by currents

Self-sustained steady state magnetization dynamics

Unusual thermal effects

Interesting domain wall dynamics

Dynamic phases: synchronization, modification and chaos
First observation of current induced
magnetic switching by Spin torques
Co1=2.5nm
Co2=6.0nm
Katine et. al., PRL (2000).
Self-sustained steady-states precession
2
| | ( ) ( )
eff J p p eff
dE
m H a M m M m H
dt
o o -
The first term is always negative (damping), the second term
could be positive or negative (it even changes sign at
different times).

Energy damping and pumping:
Limit cycle: the energy change is zero in an orbit
[ ( ) ( )] 0
eff J p
E
E dm m H a m m o o ~ + =
}
Calculated limit cycles
2 2 2
sin cos 2 sin cos E K H u u t u = +
Kiselev et al., Nature (2003)
Experimental identification of limit cycles
Unusual Thermal effects
E
b

P
t
AP
t
Neel-Brown relaxation:
( , )exp( / )
b B
f T E E k T t =
( , ) f T M
where
is algebraic
dependent on T, E
Question: in the presence of the
spin torque, how do we formulate
the relaxation time?
Thermal activation
Difficulty: the spin torque is not conservative: ( )
J p m
a m m F m = V
LLG equation at finite temperatures
( ) ( ) ( )
0
( , ) ( ', ') 2 ( ') ( ')
eff J P
i j
ij
dm dm
m H h m a m m m
dt dt
h
h r t h r t D r r t t
o u
o o o
= + + +
< >=
< >=
random field
( )
( )
eff m
eff
J p m
M
H E m
m H
a m m F m
Dm P
o
= V

= V
V
The magnetization receives following fields
Precessional conservative field
Non-conservative damping field
Non-conservative spin torque field
Diffusion field
Solution of Fokker-Planck equation
( ) [ ( ) ( )] ( ) 0
eff J p M
E E
B
P E dm m H a m m dm D P m
D k T
o
o
+ V =
=
} }
is diffusion constant (dissipation-fluctuation relation)
The probability energy density is:
'
'
( ) exp
( )
' ' ( ')
( )
eff
B
J p
E
eff
E E
eff
E
E
P E A
k T
a dm m m
E E dE E dE C E
dm m H o
| |
=
|
\ .

=

}
} }
}
where
Experimental data interpretation
Telegraph noise
P
t
AP
t
P AP
t t =
P AP
t t >
H
P AP
t t >
J
P AP
t t <
J
P AP
t t =
H
+
J
R
Field alone
Current alone
P AP
t t <
H
H-I phase boundary of equal dwell times.
Comparison with experiments
Equal dwell times
for P and AP states
P AP
t t =
By simultaneously changing
H and J, one can always have
( )(1 )
b
c
I
E H Const
I
=
Synchronization, modification and chaos
Limit cycle
+
1. Another oscillator
2. AC external field
3. AC external current
Linear oscillator
Calculated limit cycles
2 2 2
sin cos 2 sin cos E K H u u t u = +
Observation of synchronization by an AC current
Rippard et al, PRL (2005)
Observation of mutual synchronization
Kaka et al., Nature (2005); Mancoff et al, Nature (2005)
Observation of mutual synchronization
Narrower spectrum width at synchronization
Dynamic phases due to AC currents
M
M
M
M
20( )
0.02
200( )
0
ac
a Oe
H Oe
K
o
=
=
=
=
Synchronization spectra
x1
Modification spectra (beating)
x2
Synchronization and modification
agree well with experiments
Chaos spectra
x3
Theories of spin torques in ferromagnets
M
e
Berger, domain drag force, based an intuitive physics picture
Bazaliy, et al,

Waintal and Viret, a global pressure and a periodic torque
Tatara and Kohno, spin transfer torque and momentum transfer torque.
Zhang and Li, adiabatic torque and non-adiabatic torques
Barnas and Maekawa, non-adiabatic torque relates to the damping of the
adiabatic torque


within a ballistic transport model for half-
metallic materials
M
M M
x
t
| |
c

|
c
\ .
Spin torques in a domain wall
1
ex s sf
m m
J m M
t M
o
t t
c
+V- =
c
Equation of motion for conduction electrons
( )
e J J ff
b
M M
M H M
M M
M M c M
x x t t
o
c c

c c
+
c
= + +
c c c
/ 0.01
ex
J J
sf
c b
t

t
= = where
Interaction between conduction electrons and magnetization:
ex
H m M
t
=
( , , )
x
m m x v t y z =
/ /
x
m t v m x c c = c c
If the wall is in steady motion, the current driven wall
velocity is independent wall structure and pinning potentials
o

o
ext J
x
WH c
v =
ext ext x
H H e =
Steady state wall motion
Steady state wall velocity is thus
x s s
e j j

=
eff J J
m m m m
m H m b m m c m
t t x x
o
c c c c
| |
= + + +
|
c c c c
\ .
Wall velocity for different materials in a perfect
wire
M
s
(A/m) P Wall velocity
(m/s)
Co 14.46x10
5
0.35 1.41
Permalloy 8x10
5
0.7 5.1
Fe
2
O
3
4.14x10
5
1.0 14.0
CrO
2
3.98x10
5
1.0 14.6
2 7
/ 10 1 cm A j
s
=
Observed Domain wall motion in a nanowire
Yamagushi et al.,
PRL (2004)
Observed Wall velocity
8 2
3 /
1.2 10 /
v m s
j A cm
=
=
for
Vortex domain wall motion driven by current
05 . 0 , 01 . 0
/ 10 8
2 8
= =
=
o ,
cm A j
e
Wall transition: from vortex all to transverse wall
x
v
y
v
Magnetic tunnel Junction
1 0
Goal: using a reasonable current
to switch magnetization,
ideally less than 10
6
A/cm
2
Conductor
lead
J
Oscillation of M (GHz) by a DC current
Application 2: local AC magnetic field oscillators
(generators)
Local AC field (1000 Oe) with spatial resolution 10nm!
Application IV: concerns of CPP reading
heads
Bit width
Bit length
Conductor
lead
J
M Spin
valve
0
1
The large current density in CPP
reading heads may produce
unwanted switching!
Goal: eliminates current-induced
switching for current density
larger than 10
7
A/cm
2
Acknowledgement
Students: Dr. Yu-nong Qi,
Mr. Zhao-yang Yang, Mr. Jie-xuan He

Postdoctoral: Dr. Z. Li (Postdoctoral)

Collaborators: P. M. Levy (NYU)
A. Fert (Orsay-Paris)

Funded by: NSF-DMR, NSF-ECS, DARPA, NSFC