Modeling Advanced Magnetoresistive Memories
Viktor Sverdlov, IMN, TÜ Wien, Austria
Abstract: Magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) is an emerging nonvolatile memory with (sub)nanosecond switching times, high endurance, and long retention. In spin-transfer torque (STT) MRAM, the magnetization of the ferromagnetic (FM) free layer (FL) is inverted by utilizing the spin polarization of the charge current passing through the cell. Spin-orbit torque (SOT) MRAM is operated, however, by spin currents generated through spin-orbit coupling in an adjacent to the FL heavy metal (HM) layer or at the interface.
Modeling advanced magnetoresistive memory requires an accurate evaluation of spin currents and torques in magnetic tunnel junctions with composite free layers and several reference layers. We developed a fully three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) based modeling and simulation environment, which includes all physical phenomena responsible for proper MRAM operation. The magnetization dynamics is described by the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation, solved numerically. The effective field includes magnetic anisotropy, exchange, and demagnetization field contributions. The demagnetization field is calculated at disconnected magnetic domains by a hybrid boundary element/finite element method.
By coupling nonequilibrium spin and charge transport with magnetization dynamics, we accurately evaluate nonequilibrium spin accumulation and the corresponding torques acting on the magnetization. We confirm the versatility of our approach by applying it to multilayer STT-MRAM and demonstrating ultra-fast sub-nanosecond operation. We show that SOT-MRAM cells utilizing the magnetic spin Hall effect in a Mn3Sn layer, as well as cells based on a FM/HM/FM trilayer, can achieve deterministic sub-ns magnetic field-free switching. We also demonstrate that noncolinear antiferromagnet Mn3Sn is promising for emerging devices as a free switching layer. Electric magnetization control in a Mn3Sn/Mo/CoFeB trilayer structure opens exciting perspectives for creating innovative SOT-driven devices.
Short bio: Viktor Sverdlov obtained his Master of Science and PhD degrees in physics from the State University of St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1985 and 1989, respectively. From 1989 to 1999, he worked as a senior research scientist at the V.A. Fock Institute of Physics at the same university. Throughout his career, he has visited several notable institutions, including the ICTP in Italy (1993), the University of Geneva in Switzerland (1993-1994), the University of Oulu in Finland (1995), the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland (1996, 1998), the Free University of Berlin in Germany (1997), and NORDITA in Denmark (1998). In 1999, he became a staff research scientist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In 2004, he joined the Institute for Microelectronics at Technische Universität Wien, where he is currently an associate professor and the director of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Nonvolatile Magnetoresistive Memory and Logic. His scientific interests include device simulations, computational physics, solid-state physics, and nanoelectronics.