Designing magnetic memory with improved retention and writability (April 08th, 2022)
Magnetic Random Access Memory recently started to be commercialized by all main microelectronics factories. In MRAM, the information is coded via parallel or antiparallel magnetic configurations to represent ones and zeroes. The technology is intrinsically nonvolatile, meaning it can keep information without being electrically powered. However, nonvolatility often comes with a trade-off between the information […]
Read moreA new spintronic memristive component for neuromorphic circuits (November 18th, 2021)
Neuromorphic computing is a bio-inspired technology which aims at mimicking the brain working principles. It can be used for fast and energy-efficient applications through the implementation of networks of artificial neurons and synapses. Artificial synapses are implemented as electronic components called memristors. These are non-volatile memory devices whose resistance can take several intermediate values between […]
Read moreUnveiling the heart of magnetic memory cells thanks to electron holography (November 10th, 2020)
Magnetic spintronic memory called STT-MRAM have recently entered in volume production at major microelectronic foundries. The research in this area is now focused on preparing the future memory generations with higher capacity, higher speed, lower power consumption, wider range of operating temperature. To conduct this type of research, it is important to be able to […]
Read moreAll-optical switching of magnetization in Tb/Co-multilayer based electrodes (April 30th, 2020)
This work reports the development of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions incorporating a stack of Tb/Co nanolayers whose magnetization can be all-optically controlled via helicity-independent single-shot switching. Toggling of the magnetization of the Tb/Co electrode was achieved using either 60 femtosecond-long or 5 picosecond-long laser pulses, with incident fluences down to 3.5 mJ/cm2. Ever since the […]
Read moreReducing the impact of operating temperature in magnetic memory thanks to perpendicular shape anisotropy (April 01st, 2020)
MRAM is a type of nonvolatile memory that stores the binary information through the magnetic configuration of its main building block: the Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ). In the last decade, the use of perpendicular anisotropy existing at the tunnel barrier interface, allowed to improve MRAM manufacturability. However, the thermal sensitivity of the interfacial anisotropy is […]
Read moreSelf-induced spin-charge conversion in ferromagnetic thin films (February 28th, 2020)
The generation of a spin current and its further conversion to a charge current have attracted considerable attention, facilitating advances in basic physics along with the emergence of closely related applications in the field of spintronics. In this study, we experimentally and theoretically demonstrated the self-induced inverse spin Hall effect for spin-charge conversion, triggered by […]
Read moreSpintronic memristor based on an isotropically coercive magnetic layer (December 03rd, 2019)
We propose an original concept of spintronic memristor based on the angular variation of the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of a nanopillar comprising several magnetic layers. We have experimentally developed the appropriate magnetic free layer and integrated it in a full nanosized magnetic tunnel junction pillar. In parallel, we developed a model describing the magnetization dynamics […]
Read moreImpact of eddy currents in nanostructures destined for use in spintronics (September 11th, 2019)
In the field of spintronics, ferromagnetic/non-magnetic metallic multilayers are core building blocks for emerging technologies. Resonance experiments using stripline transducers are commonly used to characterize and engineer these stacks for applications. Here, we investigated the incompletely understood impact of eddy currents below the microwave magnetic skin-depth and explained the lineshape asymmetry and phase lags reported […]
Read moreMagnetic control of optical responses of biocompatible magneto-elastic membranes (August 29th, 2019)
Numerous studies investigated the use of synthetic membranes for photonic or biomedical applications. We report here on a recent type of biocompatible magnetically actuated membranes, partly originating from studies on magnetic particles for biology, consisting of PDMS/Au bilayers with embedded arrays of micrometric magnetic pillars. Flat at zero field, concave in an applied magnetic field, […]
Read morePhysicochemical origin of improved MRAM cells with W capping layer (August 20th, 2019)
Increasing the thermal budget beyond 400°C of magnetic random access memory (MRAM) cells is a major goal to allow for seamless conventional electronics integration. At these temperatures significant material diffusion can destroy the interface properties of new generation perpendicular magnetization stacks targeting technology nodes below 20nm. This study highlights the origin in the improvement obtained […]
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