We theoretically investigate the threshold current for thermally activated switching of a perpendicular magnet by spin-orbit spin torque. Based on the Fokker-Planck equation, we obtain an analytic expression of the switching current, in agreement with numerical result. We find that thermal energy barrier exhibits a quasi-linear dependence on the current, resulting in an almost linear dependence of switching current on the log-scaled current pulse-width even below 10 ns. This is in stark contrast to standard spin torque switching, where thermal energy barrier has a quadratic dependence on the current and the switching current rapidly increases at short pulses. Our results will serve as a guideline to design and interpret switching experiments based on spin-orbit spin torque
@article{arxiv.1401.2266,
title = {Thermally activated switching of perpendicular magnet by spin-orbit spin torque},
author = {Ki-Seung Lee and Seo-Won Lee and Byoung-Chul Min and Kyung-Jin Lee},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.2266},
year = {2014}
}