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Role of transparency of platinum–ferromagnet interfaces in determining the intrinsic magnitude of the spin Hall effect

Nature Physics volume 11, pages 496–502 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

The spin Hall effect converts charge current to pure spin currents in orthogonal directions in materials that have significant spin–orbit coupling. The efficiency of the conversion is described by the spin Hall angle (SHA). The SHA can most readily be inferred by using the generated spin currents to excite or rotate the magnetization of ferromagnetic films or nano-elements via spin-transfer torques. Some of the largest spin-torque-derived spin Hall angles (ST-SHA) have been reported in platinum. Here we show, using spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance measurements, that the transparency of the Pt–ferromagnet interface to the spin current plays a central role in determining the magnitude of the ST-SHA. We measure a much larger ST-SHA in Pt/cobalt (∼0.11) compared to Pt/permalloy (∼0.05) bilayers when the interfaces are assumed to be completely transparent. Taking into account the transparency of these interfaces, as derived from spin-mixing conductances, we find that the intrinsic SHA in platinum has a much higher value of 0.19 ± 0.04 as compared to the ST-SHA. The importance of the interface transparency is further exemplified by the insertion of atomically thin magnetic layers at the Pt/permalloy interface that we show strongly modulates the magnitude of the ST-SHA.

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Figure 1: ST-FMR measurement of the SHA of Pt in Pt/Py and Pt/Co.
Figure 2: Thickness dependence of ST-SHA for 60 Pt/t Py and 60 Pt/t Co.
Figure 3: Interface transparency of Pt/FM.
Figure 4: ST-SHA and spin-mixing conductances of Pt/Co1−x Nix.
Figure 5: Interface engineering of ST-SHA.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge help from C. Lada in designing the ST-FMR measurement system and discussions with T. Phung. W. H. also acknowledges support from the 1000 Talents Program for Young Scientists of China and the Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, China.

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Author notes

  1. Xin Jiang

    Present address: Present address: Western Digital Corporation, Fremont, California 94539, USA.,

  2. Weifeng Zhang and Wei Han: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California 95120, USA

    Weifeng Zhang, Wei Han, Xin Jiang, See-Hun Yang & Stuart S. P. Parkin

  2. Department of Material Science Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA

    Weifeng Zhang

  3. International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

    Wei Han

  4. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100871, China

    Wei Han

  5. Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale), D-006120, Germany

    Stuart S. P. Parkin

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  1. Weifeng Zhang
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Contributions

W.Z., W.H., X.J. and S.S.P.P. designed the experiments. W.Z. performed the fabrication and measurements of the devices with help from W.H. W.Z., W.H. and X.J. analysed the data. X.J., W.H. and S-H.Y. grew the films. S.S.P.P. proposed and supervised the studies. W.Z., W.H. and S.S.P.P. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stuart S. P. Parkin.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Zhang, W., Han, W., Jiang, X. et al. Role of transparency of platinum–ferromagnet interfaces in determining the intrinsic magnitude of the spin Hall effect. Nature Phys 11, 496–502 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3304

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