Weak field stimulated skyrmion nucleation and manipulation for spintronic memory and processing devices
Aspects herein are directed to nucleating skyrmions in spintronic materials by dynamic manipulation of an in-plane magnetic field and related design of prototype devices for spintronic memory and processing. Different from conventional phase transition methods, nucleating and manipulating skyrmion using in-plane fields and spin current pulses is described. For example, in a material with rotatable anisotropy and asymmetry geometric confinement, a skyrmion can be nucleated by switching the in-plane fields. This has been experimentally confirmed in a centrosymmetric magnet, Fe 3 Sn 2 , with an engineered thickness gradient.
1. A method comprising:
generating a skyrmion memory in a spintronic material;
applying an in-plane magnetic field to the spintronic material; and
nucleating the skyrmion memory by manipulation of the in-plane magnetic field or spin current pulses,
wherein the spintronic material is a centrosymmetric magnet, Fe 3 Sn 2 , with an engineered thickness gradient.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising manipulating the skyrmion using the in-plane field or spin current pulses.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein nucleating the skyrmion comprises switching the in-plane field or spin current pulses.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the spintronic material is a material with rotatable anisotropy and asymmetry geometric confinement.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising nucleating a plurality of isolated skyrmions in Fe 3 Sn 2 using in-plane fields <5 mT.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the nucleated skyrmions are tunable in at least one of size, type, or stability.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising tuning the nucleated skyrmion in at least one of size, type, or stability.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting the nucleated skyrmion using topological Hall effect or tunnel magnetoresistance.
9. A device for spintronic memory and processing, comprising:
a spintronic material configured to generate a skyrmion and to which an in-plane magnetic field is applied; and
a skyrmion disposed within the spintronic material that is configured to be nucleated by manipulation of the in-plane magnetic field or spin current pulses,
wherein the spintronic material is a centrosymmetric magnet, Fe 3 Sn 2 , with an engineered thickness gradient.
10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the device is a single skyrmion racetrack device configured so that the skyrmion can be created or deleted by a locally in-plane field switching.
11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the switching is in a nanostructure with a varied field response.
12. The device of claim 9 , wherein the device is a skyrmion unit cell device.
13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the skyrmion can be nucleated in a nanostructure similar to a size of the skyrmion.
14. The device of claim 12 , wherein the skyrmion can be manipulated using ultra-low current densities and can be detected using topological Hall effect or tunnel magnetoresistance.
15. The device of claim 12 , wherein the skyrmion unit cell device is configured as a low-power memory.
16. The device of claim 12 , wherein the skyrmion unit cell device is configured as a logic architecture where bit ( 0 or 1 ) can be recorded as a skyrmion position.
17. The device of claim 9 , wherein the device is configured as a skyrmion unit for a memory, a logic, or a microwave detector.
18. The device of claim 9 , wherein the spintronic material is a material with rotatable anisotropy and asymmetry geometric confinement.