Orbital-current-driven magnetization switching in a magnetic tunnel junction

Spin orbitronics, based on both spin and orbital angular momentum, presents a promising pathway for energy-efficient memory and logic devices. Recent studies have demonstrated the emergence of orbital currents in light transition metals such as <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mi>Ti</a:mi> </a:math> , <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:mi>Cr</c:mi> </c:math> , and <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <e:mi>Zr</e:mi> </e:math> , broadening the scope of torque-driven magnetization switching. In particular, the orbital Hall effect, which arises independently of spin-orbit coupling, has shown potential for enhancing torque efficiency in spintronic devices. However, to date, limited work has focused on the direct integration of orbital current into a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). In this work, we design a light metal/heavy metal/ferromagnet multilayer structure and experimentally demonstrate magnetization switching by orbital current. Furthermore, we have realized a robust spin-orbit torque MTJ cell by incorporating a reference layer that is pinned by a synthetic antiferromagnetic structure. We observed a tunnel magnetoresistance of 66%, evident in both magnetic field and current-driven switching processes. Our findings underscore the potential for employing orbital current in designing next-generation spintronic devices.