UC Berkeley

The rapid development of computing applications demands novel low-energy consumption devices for information processing. Among various candidates, magnetoelectric heterostructures hold promise for meeting the required voltage and power goals. Here, a route to low-voltage control of magnetism in 30 nm Fe0.5Rh0.5/100 nm 0.68PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3-0.32PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) heterostructures is demonstrated wherein the magnetoelectric coupling is achieved via strain-induced changes in the Fe0.5Rh0.5 mediated by voltages applied to the PMN-PT. We describe approaches to achieve high-quality, epitaxial growth of Fe0.5Rh0.5 on the PMN-PT films and, a methodology to probe and quantify magnetoelectric coupling in small thin-film devices via studies of the anomalous Hall effect. By comparing the spin-flop field change induced by temperature and external voltage, the magnetoelectric coupling coefficient is estimated to reach ≈7 × 10−8 s m−1 at 325 K while applying a −0.75 V bias.