ELECTRIC-FIELD-INDUCED SWITCHING OF ANTIFERROMAGNETIC MEMORY DEVICES

摘要

A new type of two-terminal magnetic memory device, referred to as antiferromagnetic voltage-controlled memory (AVM) device is disclosed. Antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials have zero magnetization, which makes it immune to external magnetic fields and opens to the possibility to implement high-density arrays without dipole coupling between adjacent devices. The AVM device combines a new state variable e.g., Néel vector l in a metallic (or non-metallic) AFM material with an electric-field-induced switching mechanism for writing of information. Utilizing electric fields E via an interfacial voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect is a more efficient writing mechanism. The AVM device implements an antiferromagnetic tunnel junction (AFM-TJ) structure to exhibit high or low resistance states (HR, LR) corresponding to binary logic states of zero (0) or one (1). Both the AVM device structure and methods of writing a signal to the AVM device are disclosed.