Apparatus for generating spin waves comprising a body (102) of magnetic material and an elastic wave generator (120), wherein the body (102) has a surface (108) and the elastic wave generator (120) is arranged to transmit elastic waves so that they propagate through the body (102) towards the surface (108) and are reflected at the surface to form a standing elastic wave in the body (102), thereby generating spin waves.

Methods and apparatuses for forming an encapsulation bilayer over a chalcogenide material on a semiconductor substrate are provided. Methods involve forming a bilayer including a barrier layer directly on chalcogenide material deposited using pulsed plasma plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PP-PECVD) and an encapsulation layer over the barrier layer deposited using plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD). In various embodiments, the barrier layer is formed using a halogen-free silicon precursor and the encapsulation layer deposited by PEALD is formed using a halogen-containing silicon precursor and a hydrogen-free nitrogen-containing reactant.

A spin wave control device includes a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer arranged above the first magnetic layer, and a capping layer overlapping a portion of the second magnetic layer. The first magnetic layer has a magnetization pointing in a first direction and the second magnetic layer has a magnetization pointing in a second direction that is approximately opposite to the first direction. The capping layer has a magnetization pointing approximately in the first direction or approximately in the second direction.

A system and a method for the deterministic generation of magnetic skyrmions includes a magnetic strip configured to store and transport skyrmions. The magnetic strip includes one or more spatial inhomogeneities configured to generate a skyrmion at known locations when excited by a current pulse. A current pulse generator is used to inject current pulses into the magnetic strip via contact pads electrically coupled to both the current pulse generator and the magnetic strip. The system also includes a magnetic field source to apply an out-of-plane magnetic field across the magnetic strip to facilitate generation of skyrmions. Skyrmions can be generated by applying an out-of-plane magnetic field to the magnetic strip and injecting a current pulse with sufficient current density towards the spatial inhomogeneities. Once a skyrmion is generated, another current pulse with sufficient current density can be injected to move the skyrmion.

A magnetoresistive element comprises a novel Boron-absorbing cap multilayer provided on the top surface of an amorphous CoFeB (or CoB, FeB) ferromagnetic recording layer. As the magnetoresistive film is thermally annealed, a crystallization process occurs to form bcc CoFe grains having epitaxial growth with (100) plane parallel to the surface of the tunnel barrier layer as Boron elements migrate into the novel cap layer. Removing the top portion of the cap layer by means of sputtering etch or RIE etch processes followed by optional oxidization process, a thin thermally stable portion of cap layer is remained on top of the recording layer with low damping constant. Accordingly, a reduced write current is achieved for spin-transfer torque MRAM application.

A base element for switching a magnetization state of a nanomagnet includes a heavy-metal strip having a surface. A ferromagnetic nanomagnet is disposed adjacent to the surface. The ferromagnetic nanomagnet has a first magnetization equilibrium state and a second magnetization equilibrium state. The first magnetization equilibrium state or the second magnetization equilibrium state is settable in an absence of an external magnetic field by a flow of electrical charge through the heavy-metal strip. A method for switching a magnetization state of a nanomagnet is also described.

A power generation element includes a magnetic member that produces a large Barkhausen effect and magnetism collection members including an insertion part having the magnetic member inserted therethrough. The magnetism collection member includes a first component on an opposite side of a boundary plane to a magnetic field generation unit and a second component on the same side of the boundary plane as the magnetic field generation unit, the boundary plane passing through a center of an imaginary circle inscribed in the insertion part and having a diameter equal to a length of the insertion part in a third direction perpendicular to first and second directions, the first direction is a direction of the insertion of the magnetic member, and the second direction is a direction in which the magnetic field generation unit is disposed. A volume of the second component is larger than a volume of the first component.

A method of controlling a trajectory of a perpendicular magnetization switching of a ferromagnetic layer using spin-orbit torques in the absence of any external magnetic field includes: injecting a charge current J.sub.e through a heavy-metal thin film disposed adjacent to a ferromagnetic layer to produce spin torques which drive a magnetization M out of an equilibrium state towards an in-plane of a nanomagnet; turning the charge current J.sub.e off after t.sub.e seconds, where an effective field experienced by the magnetization of the ferromagnetic layer H.sub.eff is significantly dominated by and in-plane anisotropy H.sub.kx, and where M passes a hard axis by precessing around the H.sub.eff; and passing the hard axis, where H.sub.eff is dominated by a perpendicular-to-the-plane anisotropy H.sub.kz, and where M is pulled towards the new equilibrium state by precessing and damping around H.sub.eff, completing a magnetization switching.

A method of controlling a trajectory of a perpendicular magnetization switching of a ferromagnetic layer using spin-orbit torques in the absence of any external magnetic field includes: injecting a charge current J.sub.e through a heavy-metal thin film disposed adjacent to a ferromagnetic layer to produce spin torques which drive a magnetization M out of an equilibrium state towards an in-plane of a nanomagnet; turning the charge current J.sub.e off after t.sub.e seconds, where an effective field experienced by the magnetization of the ferromagnetic layer H.sub.eff is significantly dominated by and in-plane anisotropy H.sub.kx, and where M passes a hard axis by precessing around the H.sub.eff; and passing the hard axis, where H.sub.eff is dominated by a perpendicular-to-the-plane anisotropy H.sub.kz, and where M is pulled towards the new equilibrium state by precessing and damping around H.sub.eff, completing a magnetization switching.

A material layer stack for a pSTTM device includes a fixed magnetic layer, a tunnel barrier disposed above the fixed magnetic layer and a free layer disposed on the tunnel barrier. The free layer further includes a stack of bilayers where an uppermost bilayer is capped by a magnetic layer including iron and where each of the bilayers in the free layer includes a non-magnetic layer such as Tungsten, Molybdenum disposed on the magnetic layer. In an embodiment, the non-magnetic layers have a combined thickness that is less than 15% of a combined thickness of the magnetic layers in the stack of bi-layers. A stack of bilayers including non-magnetic layers in the free layer can reduce the saturation magnetization of the material layer stack for the pSTTM device and subsequently increase the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.