Enhancement in the interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy by heavy metal doping at the Fe/MgO interface

We investigated the influence of heavy metal doping at the Fe/MgO interface on the interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) in magnetic tunnel junctions prepared by sputtering-based deposition. The interfacial PMA was increased by tungsten doping and a maximum intrinsic interfacial PMA energy, K-i,K-0 of 2.0 mJ/m(2) was obtained. Ir doping led to a large increase in the VCMA coefficient by a factor of 4.7 compared with that for the standard Fe/MgO interface. The developed technique provides an effective approach to enhancing the interfacial PMA and VCMA properties in the development of voltage-controlled spintronic devices. (c) 2018 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.