Current-induced switching of magnetic tunnel junctions: Effects of field-like spin-transfer torque, pinned-layer magnetization orientation, and temperature

Abstract

We study current-induced switching in magnetic tunnel junctions in the presence of a field-like spin-transfer torque and titled pinned-layer magnetization in the high current limit at finite temperature. We consider both the Slonczewski and field-like torques with coefficients aJ and bJ, respectively. At finite temperatures, σ=bJ/aJ=±1 leads to a smaller mean switching time compared that with σ=0. The reduction of switching time in the presence of the field-like term is due to the alignment effect (for σ>0) and the initial torque effect.