Benchmarking interfacial magnetic interactions and spin Hall angle in heavy metal /CoFeB/MgO heterostructures

Benchmarking interfacial magnetic interactions and spin Hall angle in heavy metal /CoFeB/MgO heterostructures

APL Materials

10.1063/5.0289920

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0289920

Royston J. J. Lim, T. S. Suraj, Anuj Kumar, Liming Wang, Jifei Huang, Hang Khume Tan, Hui Ru Tan, Nelson C. B. Lim, Pin Ho, Hongxin Yang, Shaohai Chen, Anjan Soumyanarayanan

PMA, DMI, CST, SHA

04 December 2025

Lim, R. J. J., Suraj, T. S., Kumar, A., Wang, L., Huang, J., Tan, H. K., Tan, H. R., Lim, N. C. B., Ho, P., Yang, H., Chen, S., & Soumyanarayanan, A. (2025). Benchmarking interfacial magnetic interactions and spin Hall angle in heavy metal /CoFeB/MgO heterostructures. APL Materials, 13(12). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0289920

The stability and efficient electrical control of chiral spin textures (CSTs) is critical for their implementation in racetrack device architectures. Three principal properties determine the utility of material platforms for spin-texture dynamics: perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI), and spin Hall angle (SHA). Notwithstanding individual studies, a comprehensive benchmarking of these key interactions across racetrack-compatible material systems remains lacking. Here, we systematically evaluate tunnel-readout compatible HM/CoFeB/MgO trilayers fabricated using wafer-scale techniques. Their key properties—PMA, DMI, and SHA—were characterized across four heavy metals (Pt, W, Ta, and Ir) and two CoFeB compositions using magnetometry, spectroscopy, and transport techniques, respectively. Our results reveal that the W-based stacks exhibit robust PMA and high SHA, while the Pt-based stacks provide the strongest DMI. Notably, both DMI and SHA depend strongly on both heavy metal and CoFeB composition, underscoring the critical role of alloy engineering in controlling interfacial magnetic properties. Our work provides quantitative benchmarks and materials design principles for developing next-generation CST-based racetrack devices.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - SpOT-LITE
Grant Reference no. : A18A6b0057

This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - ChiRes
Grant Reference no. : M23M6c0112

This research / project is supported by the NUS - NA
Grant Reference no. : A-0004544-00-00

This research / project is supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education - Academic Research Fund Tier-1
Grant Reference no. : 23-1072-A0001 and 25-0760-P0001

https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/22558

2166-532X

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0289920