[Zurück]

E. Auerbach, H. Arthaber, C. Abert, N. Leder, D. Süss:
"Measurement and Characterization of Nonlinearities in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions";
Vortrag: 61st Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; 31.10.2016 - 04.11.2016.

It has been observed that I-V curves of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) exhibit nonlinear and asymmetric characteristics [1]. Voltage-dependent nonlinearity and asymmetry in MTJ devices can then be fitted into a model [2]. In this work, we present a measurement setup that allows us to directly measure harmonic power (Fig. 1). Such harmonic analysis reveals that nonlinearity order in MTJ devices depends on the device bias voltage (Fig. 2). We also discuss the reasons for nonlinearities: 1) nonlinear R(V) response of an MTJ device and 2) spin transfer torque (STT), which is asymmetric with respect to the device bias voltage. The measurements are compared with finite-element micromagnetic simulations, which solve the coupled micromagnetic/spin drift-diffusion equations taking inherently the field-like and damping-like STT into account [3]. From this analysis these two causes of nonlinearities are distinguished.
[1] J. Z. Sun & D. C. Ralph, "Magnetoresistance and Spin-Transfer Torque in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions," J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 320, 1227-1237,2008.
[2] J. Zang & R. M. White, "Voltage Dependence on Magnetoresistance in Spin Dependent Tunneling Junctions," J. Appl. Phys., vol. 83, no.11, 1998.
[3] Abert, C. et al., "A three-dimensional spin-diffusion model for micromagnetics," Sci. Rep. 5, 14855, 2015.