Mechanism of Spin Scattering in Ta investigated by Scanning Inverse Spin Hall Effect Meters

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-throughput scanning inverse spin Hall effect system to measure spin transport in tantalum, revealing a spin diffusion length of about 4 nm and elucidating the intrinsic relaxation mechanism.

Contribution

It develops a novel, efficient measurement setup for spin transport properties and determines the spin diffusion length and relaxation mechanism of tantalum at room temperature.

Findings

Spin diffusion length of Ta is about 4 nm.

Intrinsic spin relaxation mechanism in Ta is Elliott-Yafet.

The measurement system is high throughput and non-destructive.

Abstract

In this work, a scanning inverse spin Hall effect measurement system based on a shorted coaxial resonator has been built, which provides a high throughput method to characterize spin transport properties. The spin diffusion length of Ta at room temperature is determined via automatic measurements of Py/Ta bilayer strips with different thicknesses of Ta. The results show that the spin diffusion length is about 4 nm with a conductivity of about 7.5E5 {\Omega}-1m-1, which leads to the conclusion that the intrinsic mechanism of spin relaxation of Ta is the Elliott-Yafet interactions. The setup developed in this work provides a convenient, efficient, and non-destructive way to obtain the spin and electron transportation characteristics of the spintronic materials, which will fertilize this community by developing new materials and figuring out their mechanism.