L10 FePd-Based Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junctions with 65% Tunnel Magnetoresistance and Ultralow Switching Current Density

Published

February 9, 2024

Author(s)

Deyuan Lyu, Jenae Shoup, Ali Habiboglu, Qi Jia, Pravin Khanal, Brandon Zink, Yang Lv, Bowei Zhou, Daniel Gopman, Weigang Wang, Jian-Ping Wang

Abstract

L10 FePd is increasingly recognized as a potential candidate for magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), yet there remains room for enhancing device performance. In this work, we fabricated L10 FePd-based perpendicular MTJ devices and achieved a significant increase in tunnel magnetoresistance, reaching approximately 65%. Notably, we observed bi-directional switching with an impressively low switching current density of about 1.4×105 A/cm2, which outperforms the typical spin-transfer torque (STT) MTJ by about one order of magnitude. The switching process exhibits pronounced sensitivity to external magnetic fields. We propose two potential mechanisms to elucidate the switching process and associated device performance: 1. The voltage-controlled exchange coupling-driven switching of the bottom CoFeB layer; and 2. The STT-driven switching of the L10 FePd-CoFeB composite. While additional research is necessary, these findings pave the way for the integration of L10 FePd into spintronic devices, potentially enabling low-energy memory and logic technologies.

Citation

AIP Advances

Pub Type

Journals

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Citation

Lyu, D. , Shoup, J. , Habiboglu, A. , Jia, Q. , Khanal, P. , Zink, B. , Lv, Y. , Zhou, B. , Gopman, D. , Wang, W. and Wang, J. (2024), L10 FePd-Based Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junctions with 65% Tunnel Magnetoresistance and Ultralow Switching Current Density, AIP Advances, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=956865 (Accessed November 25, 2025)