Giant spin Hall effect in half-Heusler alloy topological semimetal YPtBi grown at low temperature

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that YPtBi thin films grown at lower temperatures with optimized sputtering conditions can exhibit a giant spin Hall angle, enabling efficient spin-orbit torque switching suitable for integrated device fabrication.

Contribution

It reveals a method to achieve large spin Hall angles in YPtBi films grown at low temperatures by adjusting sputtering parameters, compatible with BEOL process constraints.

Findings

Achieved a spin Hall angle up to 8.2 in low-temperature grown YPtBi.

Demonstrated ultralow current density magnetization switching.

Optimized sputtering conditions recover spin Hall effect despite lower growth temperature.

Abstract

Half-Heusler alloy topological semimetal YPtBi is a promising candidate for an efficient spin source material having both large spin Hall angle ${\theta}$$_{SH}$ and high thermal stability. However, high-quality YPtBi thin films with low bulk carrier density are usually grown at 600${\deg}$C, which exceeds the limitation of 400${\deg}$C for back end of line (BEOL) process. Here, we investigate the crystallinity and spin Hall effect of YPtBi thin films grown at lower growth temperature down to 300${\deg}$C. Although ${\theta}$$_{SH}$ degraded with lowering the growth temperature to 300${\deg}$C due to degradation of the crystallinity, it was recovered by reducing the sputtering Ar gas pressure. We achieved a giant ${\theta}$$_{SH}$ up to 8.2 and demonstrated efficient spin-orbit torque magnetization switching by ultralow current density of ~10$^5$ A/cm$^2$ in YPtBi grown at 300${\deg}$C with the Ar gas pressure of 1 Pa. Our results provide the recipe to achieve giant ${\theta}$$_{SH}$ in YPtBi grown at lower growth temperature suitable for BEOL process.