Full Electrical Manipulation of Perpendicular Magnetization in [111]-Orientated Pt/Co Heterostructure Enabled by Anisotropic Epitaxial Strain
The effective manipulation of perpendicular magnetization through spin-orbit torque (SOT) holds great promise for magnetic memory and spin-logic device. However, field-free SOT switching of perpendicular magnetization remains a challenge for conventional materials with high symmetry. This study elucidates a full electrical manipulation of the perpendicular magnetization in an epitaxial [111]-orientated Pt/Co heterostructure. A large anisotropic epitaxial strain induces a symmetry transition from the ideal <i>C</i><sub>3<i>v</i></sub> to <i>C</i><sub>1<i>v</i></sub>, attributed to the mismatch between [112] and [110] directions. The anisotropic strain also generates a noteworthy in-plane magnetization component along the [112] direction, further breaking magnetic symmetry. Notably, the high-temperature performance under 393 K highlights the robustness of strain-induced in-plane symmetry breaking. Furthermore, eight Boolean logic operations have been demonstrated within a single SOT device. This research presents a method for harnessing epitaxial strain to break in-plane symmetry, which may open a new avenue in practical SOT devices.
Authors
- Shouguo Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4488-2645)
- Tengyu Guo
- Hongxin Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2627-0888)
- Baoshan Cui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3877-4744)
- Congli He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7834-2719)
- Hao Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8608-3035)
- Haiming Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0675-4087)
- Yunchi Zhao
- Jijun Yun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9380-4187)
- Guoqiang Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7439-6920)
- Li Xi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0311-8197)
- Lili Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7737-4276)
- Qirui Cui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6165-3237)
- Xiaowei Lv
- Renchao Che
- Zengtai Zhu
- Yalu Zuo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7334-0338)
Institutions
- Anhui University (CN)
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Beijing Normal University (CN)
- Joint Laboratory for Extreme Conditions Matter Properties (CN)
- Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory (CN)
- FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter (CN)
- AlbaNova (SE)
- National Laboratory for Superconductivity (CN)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
- Lanzhou University (CN)
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology (SE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nano Letters
- Published
- 2025-04-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c00699
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Magnetic properties of thin films
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.25
Funders
- Lanzhou University
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province
- Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province