Three terminal magnetic tunnel junction utilizing the spin Hall effect of iridium-doped copper

We show a three terminal magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) with a 10-nm thick channel based on an interconnection material Cu with 10% Ir doping. By applying a current density of less than 10(12) A m(-2) to the channel, depending on the current direction, switching of a MTJ defined on the channel takes place. We show that spin transfer torque (STT) plays a critical role in determining the threshold current. By assuming the spin Hall effect in the channel being the source of the STT, the lower bound of magnitude of the spin Hall angle is evaluated to be 0.03. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.