Enhancing Unconventional Spin-Orbit Torque Efficiency: Numerical Study on the Influence of Crystallographic Texture and Polycrystalline Effects on Low-Symmetry Materials

Abstract

Spin-orbit torque (SOT) has been extensively studied as a key mechanism in spintronics applications. However, conventional SOT materials limit the spin polarization direction to the in-plane orientation, which is suboptimal for efficient magnetization switching. Recently, spin currents with spin polarization along multiple directions have been observed in low-symmetry materials, offering a promising energy-efficient strategy for the field-free switching of magnetic materials with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. However, the efficiency of this mechanism is highly dependent on the crystallographic texture of the SOT materials, a critical factor that, to date, has not been quantitatively investigated. In this study, we present a comprehensive numerical investigation into the impact of both in-plane and out-of-plane crystallographic textures of SOT materials on the unconventional SOT generated by Dresselhaus-like and out-of-plane spin polarizations. By employing a theoretical orientation distribution function, we calculate the effective unconventional SOT values for SOT materials with tunable crystallographic texture. This analysis provides a framework for the synthesis and optimization of future low-symmetry SOT materials, which can enhance operational efficiency for spintronics applications in magnetoresistive random-access memory and spin logic devices.