Ferrimagnetic Heusler tunnel junctions with fast spin-transfer torque switching enabled by low magnetization.

Magnetic random-access memory that uses magnetic tunnel junction memory cells is a high-performance, non-volatile memory technology that goes beyond traditional charge-based memories. Today, its speed is limited by the high magnetization of the memory storage layer. Here we prepare magnetic tunnel junction memory devices with a low magnetization ferrimagnetic Heusler alloy MnGe as the memory storage layer on technologically relevant amorphous substrates using a combination of a nitride seed layer and a chemical templating layer.

Heusler-based synthetic antiferrimagnets.

Antiferromagnet spintronic devices eliminate or mitigate long-range dipolar fields, thereby promising ultrafast operation. For spin transport electronics, one of the most successful strategies is the creation of metallic synthetic antiferromagnets, which, to date, have largely been formed from transition metals and their alloys. Here, we show that synthetic antiferrimagnetic sandwiches can be formed using exchange coupling spacer layers composed of atomically ordered RuAl layers and ultrathin, perpendicularly magnetized, tetragonal ferrimagnetic Heusler layers.

Surface Initiated Polymer Thin Films for the Area Selective Deposition and Etching of Metal Oxides.

The area selective growth of polymers and their use as inhibiting layers for inorganic film depositions may provide a valuable self-aligned process for fabrication. Polynorbornene (PNB) thin films were grown from surface-bound initiators and show inhibitory properties against the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of ZnO and TiO. Area selective control of the polymerization was achieved through the synthesis of initiators that incorporate surface-binding ligands, enabling their selective attachment to metal oxide features silicon dielectrics, which were then used to initiate surface polymerizations.

Chiral domain wall motion in unit-cell thick perpendicularly magnetized Heusler films prepared by chemical templating.

Heusler alloys are a large family of compounds with complex and tunable magnetic properties, intimately connected to the atomic scale ordering of their constituent elements. We show that using a chemical templating technique of atomically ordered X'Z' (X' = Co; Z' = Al, Ga, Ge, Sn) underlayers, we can achieve near bulk-like magnetic properties in tetragonally distorted Heusler films, even at room temperature. Excellent perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is found in ferrimagnetic XZ (X = Mn; Z = Ge, Sn, Sb) films, just 1 or 2 unit-cells thick.

Evidence for Ionic Liquid Gate-Induced Metallization of Vanadium Dioxide Bars over Micron Length Scales.

It has recently been shown that the metal-insulator transition in vanadium dioxide epitaxial films can be suppressed and the material made metallic to low temperatures by ionic liquid gating due to migration of oxygen. The gating is only possible on certain crystal facets where volume channels along the VO's rutile c-axis intersect the surface. Here, we fabricate bars with the c-axis in plane and oriented parallel to or perpendicular to the length of the bars.