US 11,895,928 B2
Integration scheme for three terminal spin-orbit-torque (SOT) switching devices
Jesmin Haq, Milpitas, CA (US); Tom Zhong, Saratoga, CA (US); Luc Thomas, San Jose, CA (US); Zhongjian Teng, Santa Clara, CA (US); and Dongna Shen, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Headway Technologies, Inc., Milpitas, CA (US)
Filed by Headway Technologies, Inc., Milpitas, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 3, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/592,210.
Prior Publication US 2021/0104663 A1, Apr. 8, 2021
Int. Cl. H10N 52/01 (2023.01); G11C 11/16 (2006.01); H10B 61/00 (2023.01); H10N 50/85 (2023.01); H10N 52/00 (2023.01); H10N 52/80 (2023.01); G11C 11/18 (2006.01)
CPC H10N 52/01 (2023.02) [G11C 11/161 (2013.01); H10B 61/20 (2023.02); H10N 50/85 (2023.02); H10N 52/00 (2023.02); H10N 52/80 (2023.02); G11C 11/18 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A three terminal spin-orbit-torque (SOT) switching device, comprising:
(a) first and second bottom electrodes (BE) that adjoin opposing sidewalls of a dielectric spacer wherein the opposing dielectric spacer sidewalls are separated by a first width (w) along a first axis, and wherein each of the first and second BE have a top surface that is coplanar with a dielectric spacer top surface;
(b) a stack of layers wherein each layer has substantially a second width (w3) along the first axis wherein w3>w, and is the distance between two opposing planar sidewalls aligned parallel to a second axis, and each layer has substantially a first length (d) along the second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis and wherein d is the distance between two opposing planar sidewalls aligned parallel to the first axis, comprising:
(1) a non-magnetic Spin Hall Effect (SHE) layer that adjoins the dielectric spacer top surface and comprised of a Spin Hall Angle (SHA) material, and wherein a bottom end of a first side of the SHE layer contacts the top surface of the first BE and a bottom end of a second side of the SHE layer contacts the top surface of the second BE, and the SHE layer is configured to generate a spin-orbit-torque on an overlying ferromagnetic (FM) layer when a first current is applied across the SHE layer in a first axis direction from the first BE to the second BE, or in a direction opposite to the first axis direction;
(2) the overlying FM layer having a magnetization in a perpendicular-to-plane direction that flips to an opposite direction when the spin-orbit-torque is generated by the SHE layer; and
(3) an uppermost hard mask (HM) layer with a top surface that is formed above the FM layer; and
(c) a top electrode (TE) formed on the HM layer top surface, and configured so that a read operation that determines the magnetization direction in the FM layer is performed when a second current is applied from the TE to one of the first BE and second BE, or from one of the first and second BE to the TE.