Department of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100084, China.
Nat Commun. 2019 Jan 16;10(1):243. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-08061-5.
Electrically switchable magnetization is considered a milestone in the development of ultralow power spintronic devices, and it has been a long sought-after goal for electric-field control of magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions with ultralow power consumption. Here, through integrating spintronics and multiferroics, we investigate MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions on ferroelectric substrate with a high tunnel magnetoresistance ratio of 235%. A giant, reversible and nonvolatile electric-field manipulation of magnetoresistance to about 55% is realized at room temperature without the assistance of a magnetic field. Through strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling, the electric field modifies the magnetic anisotropy of the free layer leading to its magnetization rotation so that the relative magnetization configuration of the magnetic tunnel junction can be efficiently modulated. Our findings offer significant fundamental insight into information storage using electric writing and magnetic reading and represent a crucial step towards low-power spintronic devices.
电切换磁化被认为是超低功耗自旋电子器件发展的一个里程碑，它一直是人们长期追求的目标，即在超低功耗下通过电场控制磁隧道结的磁电阻。在这里，我们通过集成自旋电子学和多铁性，研究了基于氧化镁的铁电衬底上的磁隧道结，其隧道磁电阻比高达 235%。在室温下，无需磁场辅助，即可实现高达 55%的巨大、可逆和非易失性的磁电阻电操控。通过应变介导的磁电耦合，电场改变了自由层的磁各向异性，导致其磁化旋转，从而可以有效地调制磁隧道结的相对磁化配置。我们的发现为使用电写入和磁读取的信息存储提供了重要的基础见解，并代表着朝着低功耗自旋电子器件迈出的关键一步。
