Kab-Jin Kim

Interdimensional universality of dynamic interfaces

Despite the complexity and diversity of nature, there exists universality in the form of critical scaling laws among various dissimilar systems and processes such as stock markets, earthquakes, crackling noise, lung inflation and vortices in superconductors. This universality is mainly independent of the microscopic details, depending only on the symmetry and dimension of the system. Exploring how universality is affected by the system dimensions is an important unresolved problem. Here we demonstrate experimentally that universality persists even at a dimensionality crossover in ferromagnetic nanowires. As the wire width decreases, the magnetic domain wall dynamics changes from elastic creep in two dimensions to a particle-like stochastic behaviour in one dimension. Applying finite-size scaling, we find that all our experimental data in one and two dimensions (including the crossover regime) collapse onto a single curve, signalling universality at the criticality transition. The crossover to the one-dimensional regime occurs at a few hundred nanometres, corresponding to the integration scale for modern nanodevices.

Electric Control of Multiple Domain Walls in Pt/Co/Pt Nanotracks with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

The electric control of the motion of multiple domain walls (DWs) is demonstrated by using the Pt/Co/Pt nanotracks with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Because of the weak microstructural disorders with a small DW propagation field (approximately a few mT), a purely current-driven DW motion is achieved in the creep regime at current densities less than 107 A/cm2 at room temperature. It is confirmed by using a scanning magneto-optical Kerr effect microscope that several DWs are simultaneously and identically displaced by the same distance in the same direction. Utilizing such DW motion, we succeeded in realizing the writing and transferring of random bits in a device prototype of 4-bit shift registers.

Joule heating in ferromagnetic nanowires: Prediction and observation

We present an analytic theory of the Joule heating in metallic nanowires. The steady state is calculated for heat conduction through the insulation layer and then the transient state is considered from the thermodynamics law. The temperature is predicted to exhibit a quick exponential decay to a steady state within a few tens of nanoseconds. The decay time is linearly dependent on the temperature coefficient and both increase to saturation values with the increasing wire width. The validity of the theory is experimentally confirmed by the in situ measurement of the temperature-dependent electric resistance.

Two-barrier stability that allows low-power operation in current-induced domain-wall motion

Energy barriers in magnetization reversal dynamics have long been of interest because the barrier height determines the thermal stability of devices as well as the threshold force triggering their dynamics. Especially in memory and logic applications, there is a dilemma between the thermal stability of bit data and the operation power of devices, because larger energy barriers for higher thermal stability inevitably lead to larger magnetic fields (or currents) for operation. Here we show that this is not the case for current-induced magnetic domain-wall motion induced by adiabatic spin-transfer torque. By quantifying domain-wall depinning energy barriers by magnetic field and current, we find that there exist two different pinning barriers, extrinsic and intrinsic energy barriers, which govern the thermal stability and threshold current, respectively. This unique two-barrier system allows low-power operation with high thermal stability, which is impossible in conventional single-barrier systems.

Current-Induced Magnetic Domain Wall Motion in a Co/Ni Nanowire with Structural Inversion Asymmetry

The authors have investigated the current-induced magnetic domain wall (DW) motion in perpendicularly magnetized Co/Ni nanowire with structural inversion asymmetry (SIA). In this system, DW motion to the direction of electric current flow, not electron flow, and high DW velocity up to 110 m/s were confirmed, which have never been observed in Co/Ni systems without SIA. In addition, we found that the DW velocity showed a strong dependence on the perpendicular magnetic field in the range of ±100 Oe. These results suggest that DW in the Co/Ni nanowire with SIA moves in the steady mode, not in the precessional mode.

20-nm magnetic domain wall motion memory with ultralow-power operation

We study the write and retention properties of magnetic domain wall (DW)-motion memory devices with the dimensions down to 20 nm. We find that the write current and time are scaled along with device size while sufficient thermal stability and low error rate are maintained. As a result, ultralow-power (a few fJ) and reliable operation is possible even at reduced dimensions.

High-speed and reliable domain wall motion device: Material design for embedded memory and logic application

High-speed capability and excellent reliability of a magnetic domain wall (DW) motion device required for embedded memory and logic-in-memory applications were achieved by optimizing the film stack structure of Co/Ni wire. Low-current with high-speed writing, high heat resistance, low error rate, wide operation range for temperature and magnetic field, high retention, and high endurance features were confirmed.

Modulation of the magnetic domain size induced by an electric field

The electric field (EF) effect on the magnetic domain structure of a Pt/Co system was studied, where an EF was applied to the top surface of the Co layer. The width of the maze domain was significantly modified by the application of the EF at a temperature slightly below the Curie temperature. After a detailed analysis, a change in the microscopic exchange stiffness induced by the EF application was suggested to dominate the modulation of the domain width observed in the experiment. The accumulation of electrons at the surface of the Co layer resulted in an increase in the microscopic exchange stiffness and the Curie temperature. The result was consistent with the recent theoretical prediction.

Spin currents and spin–orbit torques in ferromagnetic trilayers

Magnetic torques generated through spin-orbit coupling promise energy-efficient spintronic devices. It is important for applications to control these torques so that they switch films with perpendicular magnetizations without an external magnetic field. One suggested approach uses magnetic trilayers in which the torque on the top magnetic layer can be manipulated by changing the magnetization of the bottom layer. Spin currents generated in the bottom magnetic layer or its interfaces transit the spacer layer and exert a torque on the top magnetization. Here we demonstrate field-free switching in such structures and attribute it to a novel spin current generated at the interface between the bottom layer and the spacer layer. The measured torque has a distinct dependence on the bottom layer magnetization which is consistent with this interface-generated spin current but not the anticipated bulk effects. This other interface-generated spin-orbit torque will enable energy-efficient control of spintronic devices.Magnetic torques generated through spin–orbit coupling1–8 promise energy-efficient spintronic devices. For applications, it is important that these torques switch films with perpendicular magnetizations without an external magnetic field9–14. One suggested approach15 to enable such switching uses magnetic trilayers in which the torque on the top magnetic layer can be manipulated by changing the magnetization of the bottom layer. Spin currents generated in the bottom magnetic layer or its interfaces transit the spacer layer and exert a torque on the top magnetization. Here we demonstrate field-free switching in such structures and show that its dependence on the bottom-layer magnetization is not consistent with the anticipated bulk effects15. We describe a mechanism for spin-current generation16,17 at the interface between the bottom layer and the spacer layer, which gives torques that are consistent with the measured magnetization dependence. This other-layer-generated spin–orbit torque is relevant to energy-efficient control of spintronic devices.Spin–orbit torques are reported in ferromagnetic trilayers that lead to the switching of perpendicular magnetizations without an external magnetic field.

Fast domain wall motion in the vicinity of the angular momentum compensation temperature of ferrimagnets

Antiferromagnetic spintronics is an emerging research field which aims to utilize antiferromagnets as core elements in spintronic devices. A central motivation towards this direction is that antiferromagnetic spin dynamics is expected to be much faster than its ferromagnetic counterpart. Recent theories indeed predicted faster dynamics of antiferromagnetic domain walls (DWs) than ferromagnetic DWs. However, experimental investigations of antiferromagnetic spin dynamics have remained unexplored, mainly because of the magnetic field immunity of antiferromagnets. Here we show that fast field-driven antiferromagnetic spin dynamics is realized in ferrimagnets at the angular momentum compensation point TA. Using rare earth-3d-transition metal ferrimagnetic compounds where net magnetic moment is nonzero at TA, the field-driven DW mobility is remarkably enhanced up to 20 km s-1 T-1. The collective coordinate approach generalized for ferrimagnets and atomistic spin model simulations show that this remarkable enhancement is a consequence of antiferromagnetic spin dynamics at TA. Our finding allows us to investigate the physics of antiferromagnetic spin dynamics and highlights the importance of tuning of the angular momentum compensation point of ferrimagnets, which could be a key towards ferrimagnetic spintronics.