Spin torque switching in perpendicular films at finite temperature

Abstract

We show how the phase diagram for spin torque switching in the case of perpendicular anisotropy is altered at nonzero temperature. The hysteresis region in which the parallel and antiparallel states coexist shrinks, and a new region of telegraph noise appears. In a small sample, the region of coexistence of a precessional and parallel state can disappear entirely. We show that the phase diagram for both zero and nonzero temperatures can be understood and calculated by plotting an effective energy as a function of angle. A combinatorial analysis is useful for systematically describing the phase diagram.