CoFeB/MgO based magnetic tunnel junctions are of central importance for the memory applications of spin electronics. The Gilbert damping – the rate at which the energy leaks from the magnetic dynamic degrees of freedom to the thermal bath – is an important material parameter in magnetic memory technologies as it determines how energy efficient is the storage. In this seminar, I will describe the phenomenology of Gilbert damping in magnetic metals and in FeCoB systems in particular. I will discuss the influence of the deposition conditions, of the boron content, of the encapsulation material and of heavy metal contaminants onto the Gilbert damping in memory-relevant magnetic stacks. Finally, I will show how to measure electrically the spin-wave density of states in small memory devices and how to treat the data to determine the damping at device level and get information on its potential spatial variations within the nanodevice.
This seminar is meant for scientists that are already familiar to nanomagnetism. Acknowledgment: most of the work was done in collaboration with IMEC Belgium.
A coffee break will be served at 11h00.
Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (C2N ), CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France