Room-Temperature Skyrmion Shift Device for Memory Application

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• 作者：Guoqiang YuPramey Upadhyaya ; Qiming Shao ; Hao WuGen Yin ; Xiang Li ; Congli He ; Wanjun Jiang ; Xiufeng Han ; Pedram Khalili Amiri ; Kang L. Wang
• 刊名：Nano Letters
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 11, 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：17
• 期：1
• 页码：261-268
• 全文大小：506K
• ISSN：1530-6992

文摘

Magnetic skyrmions are intensively explored for potential applications in ultralow-energy data storage and computing. To create practical skyrmionic memory devices, it is necessary to electrically create and manipulate these topologically protected information carriers in thin films, thus realizing both writing and addressing functions. Although room-temperature skyrmions have been previously observed, fully electrically controllable skyrmionic memory devices, integrating both of these functions, have not been developed to date. Here, we demonstrate a room-temperature skyrmion shift memory device, where individual skyrmions are controllably generated and shifted using current-induced spin–orbit torques. Particularly, it is shown that one can select the device operation mode in between (i) writing new single skyrmions or (ii) shifting existing skyrmions by controlling the magnitude and duration of current pulses. Thus, we electrically realize both writing and addressing of a stream of skyrmions in the device. This prototype demonstration brings skyrmions closer to real-world computing applications.