Strong Electrical Manipulation of Spin-Orbit Torque in Ferromagnetic Heterostructures

Electrical control of current-induced spin-orbit effects in magnets is supposed to reduce the power consumption in high-density memories to the utmost extent, but the efficient control in metallic magnets at a practical temperature remains elusive. Here, the electrical manipulation of spin-orbit torque is investigated in perpendicularly magnetized Pt/Co/HfOx heterostructures in a nonvolatile manner using an ionic liquid gate. The switching current of magnetization can be reversibly tuned by a factor of two within a small gate voltage range of 1.5 V. The modulation of effective spin Hall angle and the corresponding damping-like torque mainly accounts for the strong electrical manipulation of switching current. Besides the fundamental significance, the findings here may advance the process toward the compatible memory and logic devices driven by dual electrical means, the electric field, and current.