Voltage-based magnetization switching and reading in magnetoelectric spin-orbit nanodevices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates room-temperature voltage-controlled magnetization switching and reading in nanodevices using magnetoelectric materials, enabling low-power spintronic logic with potential beyond-CMOS applications.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental demonstration of voltage-based magnetization control and readout in nanodevices using BiFeO₃ and CoFe, linking magnetization reversal with polarization states.

Findings

Magnetization of CoFe can be reversed by switching BiFeO₃ polarization.

Voltage outputs differ based on magnetization states.

Magnetization reversal correlates with BiFeO₃ polarization and cycloid propagation.

Abstract

As CMOS technologies face challenges in dimensional and voltage scaling, the demand for novel logic devices has never been greater, with spin-based devices offering scaling potential, at the cost of significantly high switching energies. Alternatively, magnetoelectric materials are predicted to enable low-power magnetization control, a solution with limited device-level results. Here, we demonstrate voltage-based magnetization switching and reading in nanodevices at room temperature, enabled by exchange coupling between multiferroic BiFeO$_3$ and ferromagnetic CoFe, for writing, and spin-to-charge current conversion between CoFe and Pt, for reading. We show that upon the electrical switching of the BiFeO$_3$, the magnetization of the CoFe can be reversed, giving rise to different voltage outputs. Through additional microscopy techniques, magnetization reversal is linked with the polarization state and antiferromagnetic cycloid propagation direction in the BiFeO$_3$. This study constitutes the building block for magnetoelectric spin-orbit logic, opening a new avenue for low-power beyond-CMOS technologies.