Electrical Control Grain Dimensionality with Multilevel Magnetic Anisotropy

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates electrical control of grain size in magnetic thin films, enabling reversible tuning of magnetic properties and advancing multilevel magnetic memory and spintronic device performance.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental evidence of electrically modulating grain dimensionality to control interfacial magnetism in spintronic materials.

Findings

Electrical control of grain size alters magnetic behavior.

Reversible modulation of coercivity achieved.

Transition from ferromagnetic to superparamagnetic states.

Abstract

In alignment with the increasing demand for larger storage capacity and longer data retention, electrical control of magnetic anisotropy has been a research focus in the realm of spintronics. Typically, magnetic anisotropy is determined by grain dimensionality, which is set during the fabrication of magnetic thin films. Despite the intrinsic correlation between magnetic anisotropy and grain dimensionality, there is a lack of experimental evidence for electrically controlling grain dimensionality, thereby impeding the efficiency of magnetic anisotropy modulation. Here, we demonstrate an electric field control of grain dimensionality and prove it as the active mechanism for tuning interfacial magnetism. The reduction in grain dimensionality is associated with a transition from ferromagnetic to superparamagnetic behavior. We achieve a non-volatile and reversible modulation of the coercivity in both the ferromagnetic and superparamagnetic regimes. Subsequent electrical and elemental analysis confirms the variation in grain dimensionality upon the application of gate voltages, revealing a transition from a multidomain to a single-domain state accompanied by a reduction in grain dimensionality. Furthermore, we exploit the influence of grain dimensionality on domain wall motion, extending its applicability to multilevel magnetic memory and synaptic devices. Our results provide a strategy for tuning interfacial magnetism through grain size engineering for advancements in high-performance spintronics.