CIRCUITS AND DEVICES BASED ON SPIN HALL EFFECT TO APPLY A SPIN TRANSFER TORQUE WITH A COMPONENT PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF MAGNETIC LAYERS

摘要

A device based on a spin Hall effect and spin-transfer torque (STT) effect is provided to include a magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) element including afree magnetic layer structured to have a magnetization direction that can be changed by spin-transfer torque; an electrically conducting magnetic layer structure exhibiting a spin Hall effect (SHE) and, in response to an applied in-plane charge current, generating a spin-polarized current of a magnetic moment oriented in a predetermined direction having both an in-plane magnetic moment component parallel to a surface of the electrically conducting magnetic layer structure and a perpendicular magnetic moment component perpendicular to the surface of the electrically conducting magnetic layer structure. The magnetization direction of the free magnetic layer is capable of being switched by the spin-polarized current via a spin-transfer torque (STT) effect. This device can be configured in a 3-terminal configuration.