TY - JOUR
KW - Magnetic fields
KW - Lanthanum compounds
KW - Ferromagnetism
KW - Ferromagnetic materials
KW - Antiferromagnetics
KW - Magnets
KW - Antiferromagnetism
KW - Magnetoelectronics
KW - Magnetic storage
KW - Anisotropic magnetoresistance
KW - Applied magnetic fields
KW - Ferromagnetic state
KW - High density memory
KW - Magnetic field perturbations
KW - Magnetic random access memory
KW - Strong magnetic fields
AU - X Marti
AU - I Fina
AU - C Frontera
AU - J F Liu
AU - P Wadley
AU - Q He
AU - R.J Paull
AU - J.D Clarkson
AU - J Kudrnovský
AU - I Turek
AU - J Kuneš
AU - D Yi
AU - J.-H Chu
AU - C.T Nelson
AU - L You
AU - E Arenholz
AU - S Salahuddin
AU - J Fontcuberta
AU - T Jungwirth
AU - Ramamoorthy Ramesh
AB - The bistability of ordered spin states in ferromagnets provides the basis for magnetic memory functionality. The latest generation of magnetic random access memories rely on an efficient approach in which magnetic fields are replaced by electrical means for writing and reading the information in ferromagnets. This concept may eventually reduce the sensitivity of ferromagnets to magnetic field perturbations to being a weakness for data retention and the ferromagnetic stray fields to an obstacle for high-density memory integration. Here we report a room-temperature bistable antiferromagnetic (AFM) memory that produces negligible stray fields and is insensitive to strong magnetic fields. We use a resistor made of a FeRh AFM, which orders ferromagnetically roughly 100 K above room temperature, and therefore allows us to set different collective directions for the Fe moments by applied magnetic field. On cooling to room temperature, AFM order sets in with the direction of the AFM moments predetermined by the field and moment direction in the high-temperature ferromagnetic state. For electrical reading, we use an AFM analogue of the anisotropic magnetoresistance. Our microscopic theory modelling confirms that this archetypical spintronic effect, discovered more than 150 years ago in ferromagnets, is also present in AFMs. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of fabricating room-temperature spintronic memories with AFMs, which in turn expands the base of available magnetic materials for devices with properties that cannot be achieved with ferromagnets. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
BT - Nature Materials
DO - 10.1038/nmat3861
LA - eng
M1 - 4
N1 - cited By 313
N2 - The bistability of ordered spin states in ferromagnets provides the basis for magnetic memory functionality. The latest generation of magnetic random access memories rely on an efficient approach in which magnetic fields are replaced by electrical means for writing and reading the information in ferromagnets. This concept may eventually reduce the sensitivity of ferromagnets to magnetic field perturbations to being a weakness for data retention and the ferromagnetic stray fields to an obstacle for high-density memory integration. Here we report a room-temperature bistable antiferromagnetic (AFM) memory that produces negligible stray fields and is insensitive to strong magnetic fields. We use a resistor made of a FeRh AFM, which orders ferromagnetically roughly 100 K above room temperature, and therefore allows us to set different collective directions for the Fe moments by applied magnetic field. On cooling to room temperature, AFM order sets in with the direction of the AFM moments predetermined by the field and moment direction in the high-temperature ferromagnetic state. For electrical reading, we use an AFM analogue of the anisotropic magnetoresistance. Our microscopic theory modelling confirms that this archetypical spintronic effect, discovered more than 150 years ago in ferromagnets, is also present in AFMs. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of fabricating room-temperature spintronic memories with AFMs, which in turn expands the base of available magnetic materials for devices with properties that cannot be achieved with ferromagnets. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
PB - Nature Publishing Group
PY - 2014
SP - 367
EP - 374
T2 - Nature Materials
TI - Room-temperature antiferromagnetic memory resistor
VL - 13
SN - 14761122
ER -