Domain wall resistance in CoFeB-based heterostructures with interface Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

Abstract

We have studied the domain wall resistance in W/Ta/CoFeB/MgO heterostructures. The Ta layer thickness is varied to control the type of domain walls via changes in the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii Moriya interaction. We find a nearly constant domain wall resistance against the Ta layer thickness. Adding contributions from the anisotropic magnetoresistance, spin Hall magnetoresistance and anomalous Hall effect describe well the domain wall resistance of the thick Ta layer films. However, a discrepancy remains for the thin Ta layer films wherein chiral N\'eel-like domain walls are found. These results show the difficulty of studying the domain wall type from resistance measurements.