Four-state ferroelectric spin-valve

DOI: 10.1038/srep09749
PMID: 25961513

Authors: Andy Quindeau (Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics) , Ignasi Fina (Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics) , Xavi Marti (Institute of Physics ASCR) , Geanina Apachitei (University of Warwick) , Pilar Ferrer Escorihuela (Diamond Light Source) , Chris Nicklin (Diamond Light Source) , Eckhard Pippel (Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics) , Dietrich Hesse (Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics) , Marin Alexe (Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Scientific Reports , VOL 5

State: Published (Approved)
Published: May 2015

Abstract: Spin-valves had empowered the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) devices to have memory. The insertion of thin antiferromagnetic (AFM) films allowed two stable magnetic field-induced switchable resistance states persisting in remanence. In this letter, we show that, without the deliberate introduction of such an AFM layer, this functionality is transferred to multiferroic tunnel junctions (MFTJ) allowing us to create a four-state resistive memory device. We observed that the ferroelectric/ferromagnetic interface plays a crucial role in the stabilization of the exchange bias, which ultimately leads to four robust electro tunnel electro resistance (TER) and tunnel magneto resistance (TMR) states in the junction.

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I07-Surface & interface diffraction