Efficient Magnetization Switching Driven by Orbital Torque in Light 3 d Transition‐Metal Nitrides

ABSTRACT The orbital Hall effect (OHE) in light transition metals offers a promising route to generate orbital torques for efficient magnetization control, providing an alternative to the conventional spin Hall effect approaches that rely on heavy metals. We demonstrate perpendicular magnetization switching in [Co/Pt] multilayers driven by the OHE in a light 3 d transition metal nitride, VN, with a (111)‐textured face‐centered cubic structure. Second harmonic Hall measurements reveal a large torque efficiency of ~ –0.41 in the VN(7.5 nm)/[Co(0.35 nm)/Pt(0.3 nm)], which significantly surpasses those in the control samples with Co, Py, and CoFeB ferromagnets, suggesting strong conversion of orbital current originating from VN into spin current in the [Co/Pt] ferromagnet. Full switching by an in‐plane charge current is achieved in the presence of an in‐plane magnetic field, while partial field‐free switching occurs without it. The critical current density for switching is found to be comparable to that of a W‐based spin–orbit torque device. First‐principles calculations predict a large orbital Hall conductivity in VN, with a small spin Hall conductivity around the Fermi energy. Our results highlight the potential of combining light 3 d transition metal nitrides and Co/Pt ferromagnetic multilayers with (111)‐texture to maximize the magnetization switching efficiency of orbitronic devices.