Two-Dimensional Van Der Waals Materials for Spin-Orbit Torque Applications

Mingming Tian,Zhaocong Huang,Qian Chen,Wei Jiang,Yonghui Zhu,Milad Jalali,Zhongming Zeng,Jian Liang,Ya Zhai

doi:10.3389/fnano.2021.732916

Abstract

Spin-orbit torque (SOT) provides an efficient approach to control the magnetic state and dynamics in different classes of materials. Recent years, the crossover between two-dimensional van der Waals (2D vdW) materials and SOT opens a new prospect to push SOT devices to the 2D limit. In this mini-review, we summarize the latest progress in 2D vdW materials for SOT applications, highlighting the comparison of the performance between devices with various structures. It is prospected that the large family of 2D vdW materials and numerous combinations of heterostructures will widely extend the material choices and bring new opportunities to SOT devices in the future.

Highlights

The recently developed spin-orbit torque (SOT) provides an ultrafast and energy-efficient method to manipulate magnetization by electric-current (Soumyanarayanan et al, 2016; Qiu et al, 2018; Cao et al, 2020b; Hidding and Guimarães, 2020; Han et al, 2021)
Some 2D vdW materials, such as transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are endowed with large spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and low crystal symmetry, which facilitate to the improvement of Spin-orbit torque (SOT) efficiency and field-free magnetization switching (Hidding and Guimarães, 2020)
The large family of 2D vdW materials and numerous combinations of heterostructures has widely extended the material choices of SOT devices, and there is a lack of overviews of studies on 2D vdW materials beside 2D TMDs for SOT applications

Summary

BACKGROUND

The recently developed spin-orbit torque (SOT) provides an ultrafast and energy-efficient method to manipulate magnetization by electric-current (Soumyanarayanan et al, 2016; Qiu et al, 2018; Cao et al, 2020b; Hidding and Guimarães, 2020; Han et al, 2021). Some 2D vdW materials, such as transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are endowed with large SOC and low crystal symmetry, which facilitate to the improvement of SOT efficiency and field-free magnetization switching (Hidding and Guimarães, 2020). Husain et al reviewed the current progress in research on 2D TMDs for generating SOTs in spin-logic devices (Husain et al, 2020b). Both of them focused on SOT devices based on 2D TMDs. the large family of 2D vdW materials and numerous combinations of heterostructures has widely extended the material choices of SOT devices, and there is a lack of overviews of studies on 2D vdW materials beside 2D TMDs for SOT applications. We provide a conclusion and discuss the future perspectives briefly in this field

ORIGIN OF SOT

Varieties of Torques

Spin torque

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVE

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS