Switching rate of magnetoresistive random access memory element: Verifying transition state theory

摘要

In this paper we show that the "transition state theory" (TST) used in chemical rate theory works surprisingly well for magnetic systems. It does not work for the simplest case (uniaxial anisotropy), which may explain why it has not previously been applied to other cases such as thin film switching. To check the TST, we develop a method for defining and computing switching rates by Landau-Lifshitz simulation, and apply it to a specific system (thin-film magnetoresistive random access memory element) for which it gives results similar to the TST.