Abstract
Electrical switching and readout of antiferromagnets allows to exploit the unique properties of antiferromagnetic materials in nanoscopic electronic devices. Here we report experiments on the spin-orbit torque induced electrical switching of a polycrystalline, metallic antiferromagnet with low anisotropy and high N\'eel temperature. We demonstrate the switching in a Ta / MnN / Pt trilayer system, deposited by (reactive) magnetron sputtering. The dependence of switching amplitude, efficiency, and relaxation are studied with respect to the MnN film thickness, sample temperature, and current density. Our findings are consistent with a thermal activation model and resemble to a large extent previous measurements on CuMnAs and Mn$_2$Au, which exhibit similar switching characteristics due to an intrinsic spin-orbit torque.
Highlights
The discovery of the electrical switching of antiferromagnetic CuMnAs via an intrinsic spin-orbit torque has triggered immense interest of researchers working in the field [1,2]
Thereby, we show that a much larger class of antiferromagnetic thin films can be manipulated via the spin Hall effect (SHE), including metallic and polycrystalline materials; the read-out is possible via either the planar Hall effect (PHE) [1,9] or the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) [13,14]
Rich in nitrogen and no magnetic scattering from the MnN films could be detected [27]. This excludes the possibility that electrical switching of ferrimagnetic Mn4N precipitates contributes to the signals we investigate in the present study
Summary
The discovery of the electrical switching of antiferromagnetic CuMnAs via an intrinsic spin-orbit torque has triggered immense interest of researchers working in the field [1,2]. The so-called Néel-order spin-orbit torque (NSOT) has initially been predicted [6] for another material, Mn2Au, which is an antiferromagnet with a very high Néel temperature [7]. We focus on a low-anisotropy antiferromagnet with high Néel temperature: MnN. It has a tetragonally distorted NaCl structure and a Néel temperature of 650 K [20,21]. Since the available torque from the SHE is not large, we decided to choose this low-anisotropy material, because it seems to be an ideal candidate for an electrical switching experiment
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