Effect of seed layer thickness on Ta crystalline phase and spin Hall angle

TL;DR

This study investigates how the thickness of a permalloy seed layer influences the crystalline phase of tantalum and its spin Hall angle, revealing phase transitions and their impact on spin-charge conversion efficiency in spintronic devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates the dependence of Ta crystalline phase and spin Hall angle on seed layer thickness, providing insights into optimizing spintronic device performance.

Findings

Phase transition from α-Ta to (α+β)-Ta with seed layer thickness

Higher spin-mixing conductance in (α+β)-Ta compared to α-Ta

Spin Hall angle of (α+β)-Ta estimated at -0.15

Abstract

Heavy metal-ferromagnet bilayer structures have attracted great research interest for charge-to-spin interconversion. In this work, we have investigated the effect of the permalloy seed layer on the Ta polycrystalline phase and its spin Hall angle. Interestingly, for the same deposition rates the crystalline phase of Ta deposited on Py seed layer strongly depends on the thickness of the seed layer. We have observed a phase transition from $\alpha$-Ta to ($\alpha$+$\beta$)-Ta while increasing the Py seed layer thickness. The observed phase transition is attributed to the strain at interface between Py and Ta layers. Ferromagnetic resonance-based spin pumping studies reveal that the spin-mixing conductance in the to ($\alpha$+$\beta$)-Ta is relatively higher as compared to the to $\alpha$-Ta. Spin Hall angles of to $\alpha$-Ta and to ($\alpha$+$\beta$)-Ta are extracted from inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) measurements. Spin Hall angle of the to ($\alpha$+$\beta$)-Ta is estimated to be $\theta$_SH=-0.15 which is relatively higher than that of to $\alpha$-Ta. Our systematic results connecting the phase of the Ta with seed layer and its effect on the efficiency of spin to charge conversion might resolve ambiguities across various literature and open up new functionalities based on the growth process for the emerging spintronic devices.