Two promising strategies for achieving efficient control of magnetization in future magnetic memory and non-volatile spin logic devices are spin transfer torque from spin polarized currents and voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA). Spin transfer torque is in widespread development as the write mechanism for next-generation magnetic memory, while VCMA offers the potential of even better energy performance due to smaller Ohmic losses. Here we introduce a 3-terminal magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device that combines both of these mechanisms to achieve new functionality: gate-voltage-modulated spin torque switching. This gating makes possible both more energy-efficient switching and also improved architectures for memory and logic applications, including a simple approach for making magnetic memories with a maximum-density cross-point geometry that does not require a control transistor for every MTJ.
@article{arxiv.1209.0962,
title = {Gate voltage modulation of spin-Hall-torque-driven magnetic switching},
author = {Luqiao Liu and Chi-Feng Pai and D. C. Ralph and R. A. Buhrman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1209.0962},
year = {2012}
}