Separation of Artifacts from Spin-Torque Ferromagnetic Resonance Measurements of Spin-Orbit Torque for the Low-Symmetry van der Waals Semi-Metal ZrTe$_\textbf{3}$

TL;DR

This study measures spin-orbit torque in ZrTe3 layers using ST-FMR, identifies artifacts affecting measurements in thicker samples, and proposes a method to obtain artifact-free results, revealing true torque efficiencies.

Contribution

The paper introduces a method to eliminate artifacts in ST-FMR measurements of ZrTe3, enabling accurate determination of spin-orbit torque in low-symmetry van der Waals materials.

Findings

Artifacts can cause overestimation of torque efficiency by up to 30 times in thick samples.

A new measurement geometry reduces artifacts, providing accurate torque values.

Measured torque efficiencies include a conventional in-plane anti-damping torque of 0.014 ± 0.004.

Abstract

We measure spin-orbit torque generated by exfoliated layers of the low-symmetry semi-metal ZrTe$_3$ using the spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) technique. When the ZrTe$_3$ has a thickness greater than about 10 nm, artifacts due to spin pumping and/or resonant heating can cause the standard ST-FMR analysis to overestimate the true magnitude of the torque efficiency by as much as a factor of 30, and to indicate incorrectly that the spin-orbit torque depends strongly on the ZrTe$_3$ layer thickness. Artifact-free measurements can still be achieved over a substantial thickness range by the method developed recently to detect ST-FMR signals in the Hall geometry as well as the longitudinal geometry. ZrTe$_3$/Permalloy samples generate a conventional in-plane anti-damping spin torque efficiency $\xi_{||}^{\text{DL}}$ = 0.014 $\pm$ 0.004, and an unconventional in-plane field-like torque efficiency $|\xi_{||}^{\text{FL}}|$ = 0.003 $\pm$ 0.001. The out-of-plane anti-damping torque is negligible. We suggest that artifacts similarly interfere with the standard ST-FMR analysis for other van der Waals samples thicker than about 10 nm.