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arXiv · 1311.3794

Electric-field-induced strain-mediated magnetoelectric effect in CoFeB-MgO magnetic tunnel junctions

V. B. Naik·H. Meng·J. X. Xiao·R. S. Liu·A. Kumar·K. Y. Zeng·P. Luo·S. Yap
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Abstract

Magnetoelectric coupling between magnetic and electric dipoles is one of the cornerstones of modern physics towards developing the most energy-efficient magnetic data storage. Conventionally, magnetoelectric coupling is achieved in single-phase multiferroics or in magnetoelectric composite nanostructures consisting of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric/piezoelectric materials. Here, we demonstrate an electric-field-induced strain-mediated magnetoelectric effect in ultrathin CoFeB/MgO magnetic tunnel junction employing non-piezoelectric material, which is a vitally important structure for spintronic devices, by using dynamical magnetoelectric and piezoresponse force microscopy measurement techniques. We show that the applied electric-field induces strain in a few atomic layers of dielectric MgO which is transferred to magnetostrictive CoFeB layer, resulting in a magnetoelectric effect of magnitude up to 80.8 V cm-1 Oe-1 under -0.5 V. The demonstrated strain-mediated magnetoelectric effect with an electric field in magnetic tunnel junctions is a significant step towards exploring magnetoelectrically controlled spintronic devices for low-power and high density magnetic data storage applications.

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V. B. Naik, H. Meng, J. X. Xiao, R. S. Liu, A. Kumar, K. Y. Zeng, P. Luo, S. Yap. 2013-11-15. Electric-field-induced strain-mediated magnetoelectric effect in CoFeB-MgO magnetic tunnel junctions. https://arxiv.org/abs/1311.3794

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