Fast Magneto-Ionic Switching of Interface Anisotropy Using Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Gate Oxide

Abstract

Voltage control of interfacial magnetism has been greatly highlighted in spintronics research for many years, as it might enable ultralow power technologies. Among a few suggested approaches, magnetoionic control of magnetism has demonstrated large modulation of magnetic anisotropy. Moreover, the recent demonstration of magneto-ionic devices using hydrogen ions presented relatively fast magnetization toggle switching, t(SW) similar to 100 ms, at room temperature. However, the operation speed may need to be significantly improved to be used for modern electronic devices. Here, we demonstrate that the speed of proton-induced magnetization toggle switching largely depends on proton-conducting oxides. We achieve similar to 1 ms reliable (>10(3) cycles) switching using yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), which is similar to 100 times faster than the state-of-the-art magneto-ionic devices reported to date at room temperature. Our results suggest that further engineering of the proton-conducting materials could bring substantial improvement that may enable new low-power computing scheme based on magneto-ionics.