The Effect of Thermal Fields on Spin Hall Switching in Devices Stabilized by In-Plane Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy

In this work, we examine the effect of random thermal noise on spin-orbit-torque magnetic random-access-memory (SOT-MRAM) devices stabilized by in-plane uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy. We model these thermal fluctuations using a nondimensionalized random-field model, then quantify the effect of model parameters. We then examine the effect of the thermal background on the SOT-MRAM switching process, and observe a “smearing out” of switching stochasticity, as well as changes in switching thresholds and dependences on polarization angle and anisotropy strength. Finally, we decouple randomness arising from thermal noise and randomness associated with system nonlinearity to get a fuller picture of the transient dynamics of magnetization trajectories.