1. Steady State and Dynamics of Joule Heating in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions Observed via the Temperature Dependence of RKKY Coupling
- Author
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Chavent, A., Ducruet, C., Portemont, C., Vila, L., Alvarez-Hérault, J., Sousa, R., Prejbeanu, I. L., and Dieny, B.
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Materials Science - Abstract
Understanding quantitatively the heating dynamics in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) submitted to current pulses is very important in the context of spin-transfer-torque magnetic random access memory development. Here we provide a method to probe the heating of MTJ using the RKKY coupling of a synthetic ferrimagnetic storage layer as a thermal sensor. The temperature increase versus applied bias voltage is measured thanks to the decrease of the spin-flop field with temperature. This method allows distinguishing spin transfer torque (STT) effects from the influence of temperature on the switching field. The heating dynamics is then studied in real-time by probing the conductance variation due to spin-flop rotation during heating. This approach provides a new method for measuring fast heating in spintronic devices, particularly magnetic random access memory (MRAM) using thermally assisted or spin transfer torque writing., Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures
- Published
- 2016
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