Focused He⁺ Ion Irradiation for Deterministic Nanoscale Domain Wall Pinning and Domain Nucleation in Current-Driven Magnetization Switching
Predictive domain wall nucleation, propagation, and pinning is achieved by He⁺ ion irradiation of spin-orbit torque thin film devices. Engineering the magnetic anisotropy landscape with nm precision, we demonstrate that non-irradiated gaps as small as 10 nm can act as reliable pinning sites, highlighting the potential of this method for device miniaturization. We also create artificial nucleation centers, enabling deterministic control of the switching process and subsequent reversal propagation. This study presents a simple and effective strategy for advancing nanoscale design of energy-efficient domain wall memory and logic devices.
Authors
- Jinu Kurian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4833-2955)
- Olav Hellwig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1351-5623)
- Gregor Hlawacek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7192-716X)
- Ciarán Fowley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3025-4883)
- S. Cherifi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9617-2098)
- Bernard Doudin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0657-4780)
- Ruslan Salikhov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8461-0743)
- Aleena Joseph
Institutions
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (DE)
- Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg (FR)
- Institut Jean Lamour (FR)
- Université de Lorraine (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nanotechnology
- Published
- 2026-09-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/aea859
- Primary Topic
- Magnetic properties of thin films
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Commission
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
- Université de Strasbourg
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique