Origin of spin–orbit torque in single-layer CoFeB investigated via in-plane harmonic Hall measurements

The current-induced spin–orbit torque in single-layer ferromagnetic CoFeB thin films is quantitatively investigated by using in-plane harmonic Hall measurements. After the subtraction of thermal contributions such as the anomalous and ordinary Nernst effects, the obtained overall spin–orbit torque i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ye Du, Ryan Thompson, Makoto Kohda, Junsaku Nitta
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2021-02-01
Series:AIP Advances
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0035845
Description
Summary:The current-induced spin–orbit torque in single-layer ferromagnetic CoFeB thin films is quantitatively investigated by using in-plane harmonic Hall measurements. After the subtraction of thermal contributions such as the anomalous and ordinary Nernst effects, the obtained overall spin–orbit torque is successfully decomposed into damping-like (DL) and field-like (FL) terms. The DL and FL torques exhibit opposite trends of ferromagnetic layer thickness dependence before saturation, giving rise to distinctively different spin torque efficiencies: the DL torque efficiency shows a strong thickness dependence, while the FL torque efficiency is almost independent of the thickness. Such a result shows strong evidence that the DL torque originates from a spin-Hall-like charge-spin conversion in the ferromagnet, while the FL torque stems from interfacial effects such as the Rashba–Edelstein effect. With both DL and FL torques quantified in the single-layer CoFeB, our results exhibit an important step toward the understanding of nontrivial spin–orbit torques in single-layer ferromagnetic thin films.
ISSN:2158-3226