Nobuyuki Ishiwata

Micromagnetic analysis of current driven domain wall motion in nanostrips with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Current driven domain wall motion in nanostrips with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy was analyzed by using micromagnetic simulation. The threshold current density of perpendicular anisotropy strips in adiabatic approximation was much smaller than that of in-plane anisotropy strips, and it reduced with thickness reduction. The differences originate from the differences in domain wall width and hard-axis anisotropy. Also, the threshold current density of perpendicular anisotropy strips required to depin from a pinning site was quite small although the threshold field of the strips was sufficiently large relative to those of in-plane anisotropy strips.

Soft magnetism of high‐nitrogen‐concentration FeTaN films

High‐nitrogen‐concentration FeTaN films have been newly developed as a high performance magnetic head core material. 10.5–14.5 (at. %) N, 8–13 Ta, and balance Fe composition films, prepared by a nitrogen reactive sputtering method followed by appropriate annealing (500–550 °C), have high saturation flux density (14–17 kG) and excellent soft magnetic properties: such as low coercivity (∼0.1 Oe), high relative permeability (3000 at 20 MHz), and small saturation magnetostriction ( < 0.5 × 10−6). Fine crystal structure is one of the most essential origins for the soft magnetism of FeTaN films. The FeTaN films are expected to realize recording density increases and rubbing noise reduction with high durability and high reliability due to their high Vickers hardness (1000) and their higher corrosion resistance than Sendust film.

Current-induced domain wall motion in perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB nanowire

Current-induced domain wall motion in perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB nanowires with a stack structure of Ta(1.0 nm)/CoFeB(1.2 nm)/MgO(2.0 nm)/Ta(1.0 nm) was investigated. Domain wall motion driven by adiabatic spin-transfer torque was observed at a current of about 74 μA, corresponding to a current density of 6.2×107 A/cm2. The obtained results were compared with those of a micromagnetic simulation and the spin polarization of the CoFeB was estimated to be 0.72.

Electric-field control of magnetic domain-wall velocity in ultrathin cobalt with perpendicular magnetization

Controlling the displacement of a magnetic domain wall is potentially useful for information processing in magnetic non-volatile memories and logic devices. A magnetic domain wall can be moved by applying an external magnetic field and/or electric current, and its velocity depends on their magnitudes. Here we show that the applying an electric field can change the velocity of a magnetic domain wall significantly. A field-effect device, consisting of a top-gate electrode, a dielectric insulator layer, and a wire-shaped ferromagnetic Co/Pt thin layer with perpendicular anisotropy, was used to observe it in a finite magnetic field. We found that the application of the electric fields in the range of ± 2-3 MV cm(-1) can change the magnetic domain wall velocity in its creep regime (10(6)-10(3) m s(-1)) by more than an order of magnitude. This significant change is due to electrical modulation of the energy barrier for the magnetic domain wall motion.

Electrical control of Curie temperature in cobalt using an ionic liquid film

The electric field effect on magnetization properties and Curie temperature of Co ultra-thin films has been investigated. An electric field is applied to a Co film by using an electric double layer (EDL) formed in a polymer film containing an ionic liquid. The change in the Curie temperature is ∼100 K by applying the gate voltage of ±2 V, suggesting that the observed large modifications of magnetization properties are attributed to the significant change in the Curie temperature, which is induced by a large amount of carrier density control due to the formation of the EDL.

Control of Multiple Magnetic Domain Walls by Current in a Co/Ni Nano-Wire

All-electrical control and local detection of multiple magnetic domain walls in perpendicularly magnetized Co/Ni nano-wires were demonstrated. A series of domain walls was reproducibly shifted in the same direction by the current, keeping the distance between the walls almost the same. Furthermore, the walls can be shifted back and forth depending on the direction of the pulsed currents.

Domain Wall Motion Induced by Electric Current in a Perpendicularly Magnetized Co/Ni Nano-Wire

The authors show experimental results on domain wall motion induced by electric current in a Co/Ni nano-wire with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The motion was detected electrically by using the anomalous Hall effect. Threshold current density for the domain wall motion was found to decrease with decreasing the wire width, where the minimum threshold current density of approximately 5×1011 A/m2 was observed for the wire width of 70 nm.

A 90nm 12ns 32Mb 2T1MTJ MRAM

Since MRAM cells have unlimited write endurance, they can be used as substitutes for DRAMs or SRAMs. MRAMs in electronic appliances enhance their convenience and energy efficiency because data in MRAMs are nonvolatile and retained even in the power-off state. Therefore, 2 to 16Mb standalone MRAMs have been developed [1–4]. However, in terms of their random-access times, they are not enough fast (25ns) [1] as substitutes for all kinds of stand-alone DRAMs or SRAMs. To attain a standalone MRAM with both a fast random-access time and a large capacity, we adopt a cell structure with 2 transistors and 1 magnetic tunneling junction (2T1MTJ), which we previously published for a 1Mb embedded MRAM macro [5]. We need to develop circuit schemes to achieve a larger memory capacity and a higher cell-occupation ratio with small access-time degradation. We describe the circuit schemes of a 32Mb MRAM, which enable 63% cell occupation ratio and 12ns access time.

Current-induced effective field in perpendicularly magnetized Ta/CoFeB/MgO wire

The current-induced effective field in perpendicularly magnetized Ta/CoFeB/MgO wire was investigated. A threshold field decrease of 6.4 kOe/mA was observed by measuring the threshold field of Hall resistance versus the magnetic field curve with various bias currents. The decrease was probably caused by the in-plane effective field, mainly due to the Rashba effect. The effective field of the Ta/CoFeB/MgO wire was smaller and opposite in direction compared to that of Pt/Co/AlOx previously reported.

Control of Domain Wall Position by Electrical Current in Structured Co/Ni Wire with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

We report the direct observation of the current-driven domain wall (DW) motion by magnetic force microscopy in a structured Co/Ni wire with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The wire has notches to define the DW position. It is demonstrated that single current pulses can precisely control the DW position from notch to notch with high DW velocity of 40 m/s.