Disruptive effect of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction on the MRAM cell performance

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) negatively affects MRAM cell performance by promoting non-uniform magnetization states, thereby reducing thermal stability and increasing switching current, as shown through micromagnetic simulations.

Contribution

It demonstrates the disruptive impact of DMI on MRAM cell stability and switching behavior, highlighting the importance of controlling DMI in device design.

Findings

DMI promotes non-uniform magnetization states.

DMI deteriorates thermal stability of MRAM cells.

DMI increases switching current requirements.

Abstract

In order to increase the thermal stability of a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) cell, materials with high spin-orbit interaction are often introduced in the storage layer. As a side effect, a strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) may arise in such systems. Here we investigate the impact of DMI on the magnetic cell performance, using micromagnetic simulations. We find that DMI strongly promotes non-uniform magnetization states and non-uniform switching modes of the magnetic layer. It appears to be detrimental for both the thermal stability of the cell and its switching current, leading to considerable deterioration of the cell performance even for a moderate DMI amplitude.