Enhanced spin transfer torque in platinum/ferromagnetic-metal structures by optimizing the platinum thickness

Abstract

Spin transfer torque (STT) driven by a charge current plays a key role in magnetization switching in heavy-metal/ferromagnetic-metal structures. The STT efficiency defined by the ratio between the effective field due to STT and the current density, is required to be improved to reduce energy compulsions in the STT-based spintronic devices. In this work, using the harmonic Hall measurement method, we experimentally studied the STT efficiency in platinum(Pt)/FM structures as a function of the Pt thickness. We found that the STT efficiency strongly depends on the Pt thickness and reaches a maximum value of 4.259 mT/($10^6$A/$cm^{2}$) for the 1.8-nm-thickness Pt sample. This result indicates that competition between spin Hall effect (SHE) and Rashba effect as well as spin diffusion process across the Pt layer determines the Pt thickness for the maximum STT efficiency. We demonstrated the role played by the spin diffusion besides the spin current generation mechanisms in improvement of the STT efficiency, which is helpful in designing STT-based devices.