Resolving Discrepancies in Spin-Torque Ferromagnetic Resonance Measurements: Lineshape vs. Linewidth Analyses

TL;DR

This paper investigates discrepancies in spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance measurements, identifying residual signals from interface effects and heating that affect analysis methods, and proposes a correction technique to improve accuracy.

Contribution

It reveals the sources of inconsistencies between lineshape and linewidth analyses in ST-FMR measurements and offers a method to mitigate these issues for more reliable torque efficiency extraction.

Findings

Residual signals from interface excitations and heating affect measurements.

Extrapolating linewidth fits to small magnetic fields reduces discrepancies.

The proposed method improves consistency between analysis techniques.

Abstract

When spin-orbit torques are measured using spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR), two alternative ways of analyzing the results to extract the torque efficiencies -- lineshape analysis and analysis of the change in linewidth versus DC current -- often give inconsistent results. We identify a source for these inconsistencies. We show that fits of ST-FMR data to the standard analysis framework leave significant residuals that we identify as due to (i) current-induced excitations of a small volume of magnetic material with magnetic damping much larger than the bulk of the magnetic layer, that we speculate is associated with the heavy-metal/magnet interface and (ii) oscillations of the sample magnetization at the modulation frequency due to heating. The dependence of the residual signals on DC current can interfere with an accurate extraction of spin-torque efficiencies by the linewidth method. We show that the discrepancies between the two types of analysis can be largely eliminated by extrapolating the window of magnetic fields used in the linewidth fits to small values so as to minimize the influence of the residual signals.