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Manuscript Number: MOM-14-406
Title: Mechanically induced deterministic 180^o switching in nanomagnets
Article Type: Research Paper
Keywords: mechanical-magnetic coupling; 180^o switching; nanomagnets; ferromagnetic materials
Corresponding Author: Dr. Min Yi,
Corresponding Author's Institution: Technische Universitt Darmstadt
First Author: Min Yi
Order of Authors: Min Yi; Bai-Xiang Xu, Prof.Dr.; Dietmar Gross, Prof.Dr.
Manuscript Region of Origin: GERMANY
Suggested Reviewers: George Weng Prof.Dr.
Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers University
weng@jove.rutgers.edu
Charles Hansen Prof.Dr.
Technical University of Denmark
charles.hansen@live.dk
Jrg Schrder Prof.Dr.
Institute of Mechanics, Universitt Duisburg-Essen
j.schroeder@uni-due.de
Min-Zhong Wang Prof.Dr.
Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Peking University
wangminz@pku.edu.cn
Ralf Mller Prof.Dr.
Institute of Applied Mechanics, Technische Universitt Kaiserslautern
ram@rhrk.uni-kl.de
Opposed Reviewers:

*Author Statement

Author Statement
For the submitted original manuscript, entitled Mechanically induced deterministic 180o
switching in nanomagnets,
(a) it is not concurrently submitted for publication elsewhere;
(b) the paper, in its entirety, in part, or in a modified version, has not been published elsewhere;
(c) the paper has not previously been submitted for possible publication elsewhere.
Authors: Min Yi, Bai-Xiang Xu, Dietmar Gross

Graphical Abstract (for review)

Highlights (for review)

A constraint-free phase model is used for magneto-mechanically coupled

nanomagnets.

Mechanically induced magnetization switching dynamics is readily captured.

Size dependence of mechanically induced switching mode is identified.

Mechanically driven/assisted 180o switching of nanomagnets is indeed feasible.

180o switching under combined mechanical loading and magnetic field is explored.

*Manuscript
Click here to view linked References

Mechanically induced deterministic 180 switching in nanomagnets

Min Yia,b,, Bai-Xiang Xub,, Dietmar Grossc
a School

of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Xueyuan Road 37,
Beijing 100191, China
b Mechanics of Functional Materials Division, Institute of Material Science, Technische Universit
at Darmstadt,
Jovanka-Bontschits-Strasse 2, Darmstadt 64287, Germany
c Division of Solid Mechanics, Technische Universit
at Darmstadt, Franziska-Braun-Strasse 7, Darmstadt 64287, Germany

Abstract
The mechanically induced magnetization switching in nanomagnets is studied by a constraintfree phase field model, which permits exactly constant magnetization magnitude and explicit
magneto-mechanical coupling. Depending on the geometry of the nanomagnets, there exist
two distinct switching modes: one is the coherent mode where the magnetization vector
remains homogeneous during the switching, and the other is the incoherent mode where
heterogeneous magnetization distribution occurs. For the application of nanomagnets-based
logic and memory devices, the coherent mode is of great interest. Results show that a deterministic 180 switching can happen if mechanical loading is removed once the magnetization
rotates to the largest switching angle. The switching time decreases with the magnitude of
the applied strain. In addition, the 180 switching under a combination of magnetic field and
mechanical strain is also investigated. Simulations demonstrate that an optimum additional
strain to reduce the switching time is around 0.2%. This work provides a foundation for the
study of mechanically driven/assisted nanomagnets-based logic and memory devices.
Keywords: phase field model, mechanical-magnetic coupling, 180 switching, nanomagnets, ferromagnetic
materials

1.

Introduction
Nanomagnets in the form of individual bits have shown huge potential for the bit pat-

terned media (BPM) concept in the magnetic data storage [13]. In the BPM concept, each
Corresponding

author
Email addresses: yi@mfm.tu-darmstadt.de (Min Yi), xu@mfm.tu-darmstadt.de (Bai-Xiang Xu),
gross@mechanik.tu-darmstadt.de (Dietmar Gross)
Preprint submitted to Mechanics of Materials

October 16, 2014

magnetic entity can save one single bit of information [2]. The technology based on this
concept is believed to be able to overcome the areal density limitation of the current hard
disk drives which are constituted by perpendicular granular media [4]. Within the BPM
concept, the nanomagnets-based logic and memory applications require a 180 switching of
the magnetization, i.e. the nanomagnet changes its bit state from 0 to 1, or vice versa.
Thus, in order to achieve reliable and stable performance, a deterministic 180 switching is
indispensable [5, 6].
A few approaches have been used to switch the magnetization in nanomagnets. As the
simplest way, a magnetic field with sufficient intensity can induce a deterministic 180 switching. By using the coupling between the electric field and the magnetic order in multiferroic
heterostructures, a deterministic 90 switching can be induced by an electric field [68]. But
experiments showed that 180 switching occurs only when the electric field is applied in
the plane of the multiferroic layers [9]. Furthermore, through the spin-transfer torque, a
spin-polarized current can also result in a deterministic 180 switching [1013]. However,
the critical current density for the switching is as high as 106 A/cm2 , which leads to
significant energy dissipation [13].
A more promising alternative is to switch nanomagnets by mechanical loading[1417],
thanks to the magneto-mechanical coupling [1821]. It has been demonstrated that switching a nanomagnet by mechanical loading dissipates much less energy than by a magnetic
field or a spin-polarized current [15, 22, 23]. Thus, mechanically mediated switching shows
potential applications in low-energy nanomagnets-based logic and memory devices. However, the mechanism of a deterministic 180 switching by mechanical loading requires further
study. Take a nanomagnet with uniaxial anisotropy as an example. Assume that the initial
magnetization is parallel to the easy axis. It is known that mechanical loading, compression
or tension along the easy axis, can switch the magnetization by 90 . After removal of the
mechanical loading, the magnetization rotates further and becomes either parallel or antiparallel to the easy axis, with equal probability in the both cases. Thus, a deterministic
180 switching cannot be achieved.
In order to obtain a deterministic 180 switching, Khan et al [13] have tried recently
the combination of mechanical loading and spin-polarized current. Roy et al. [15] used an
2

ellipsoid as a special example and showed that a 180 switching can happen after the removal of the mechanical loading. It should be noted that results in both work were based on
micromagnetics calculations, where only the anisotropy energy and the magneto-mechanical
coupling energy were considered, and the exchange energy, the elastic energy, and the magnetostatic energy were ignored. However, the exchange energy and the magnetostatic energy
play important roles in determining the magnetization state in nanomagnets. Furthermore,
due to the neglect of elastic energy, the micromagnetics calculations cannot take into account the mechanical boundary condition on nanomagnets, which can be influential in the
switching mechanism.
In this paper, we use a fully coupled constraint-free phase field model to study the mechanically induced switching dynamics in nanomagnets. The phase field model allows explicit magneto-mechanical coupling, mechanical boundary conditions, and a straightforward
realization of the constraint on a constant magnetization magnitude. In the analysis, the
exchange energy, the anisotropy energy, the elastic energy, the magneto-mechanical energy,
and the magnetostatic energy are all incorporated. The magnetization switching mechanism in hexagonal close-packed (hcp) Cobalt nanomagnets of regular cuboidal shape with
different aspect ratios are investigated. The transition between the coherent and incoherent
switching modes is identified with respect to the geometry of the cuboid. It is found that in
the incoherent regime, mechanical loading and unloading cannot result in 90 switching of
all the magnetization vectors. But in the coherent regime, once the switching angle reaches
the possible largest value during the mechanical loading, mechanical unloading can result
in a deterministic 180 switching. The 180 switching by mechanical loading and unloading
combined with a magnetic field is also studied. The time of 180 switching and its optimum
value are explored. The study should provide a solid basis for designing nanomagnets with
mechanically driven deterministic 180 switching.

2.

Constraint-free phase field model

The constraint-free phase field model, which was developed for the study of ferromagnetic

domain structure in cubic crystal nanomagnets [24], is extended in the present work for the
3

investigation of a hexagonal crystal nanomagnet. As an illustrative example, the hcp crystal

Cobalt nanomagnets will be considered.
It is known that when the temperature is far below the Curie point, the magnitude
of the magnetization vector M should be constant, i.e. M = Ms m with Ms being the
constant saturation magnetization and m the magnetization unit vector. In contrast to the
conventional micromagnetic or phase field models, the constraint-free phase field model takes
the polar and azimuthal angles (1 , 2 ), instead of the Cartesian components (m1 , m2 , m3 ) of
the magnetization unit vector, as the order parameters. Please see the illustration in Figure
1. In this way, the constraint on the magnitude of the magnetization vector is fulfilled
automatically, and thus no additional numerical treatment on the constraint is required.
Furthermore, the degrees of freedom per node in the finite element implementation are also
reduced by one. For more details, the readers are referred to the previous work [24].
The important point of a fully coupled phase field model is to construct the magnetic
enthalpy for a hexagonal crystal. The total magnetic enthalpy of the ferromagnetic material
consists of the pure mechanical contribution Hmech , the magneto-elastic coupling contribution Hmag-ela , the magnetocrystalline anisotropy contribution Hani , the exchange contribution
Hexc , and the magnetostatic contribution Hmag , i.e.
H = Hmech + Hmag-ela + Hani + Hexc + Hmag

(1)

For a hcp Cobalt crystal, the pure mechanical contribution can be given as [25]
1
1
Hmech = C11 (211 +222 )+ C33 233 +C12 11 22 +C13 (11 33 +22 33 )+2C44 (223 +231 )+(C11 C12 )212
2
2
(2)
where C11 , C12 , C33 , C13 , and C44 are the elastic constants for the hcp Cobalt crystal, and
ij =

1
2

(ui,j + uj,i ) are the strain components with ui being the mechanical displacement

components. Hereafter, the Latin indices i and j run over the range of 1-3. A comma in a
subscript denotes partial differentiation, for example, ui,j = ui /xj in which xj is the j-th
Cartesian coordinate direction. By using the order parameters (1 , 2 ), the magneto-elastic

coupling energy can be written as [25]

Hmag-ela =B1 (sin2 1 cos2 2 11 + 2 sin2 1 sin 22 12 + sin2 1 sin2 2 22 ) + B2 sin2 1 33

(3)

+ B3 sin2 1 (11 + 22 ) + B4 (sin 21 sin 2 23 + sin 21 cos 2 23 )

where B1 , B2 , B3 , and B4 are the magneto-elastic coupling coefficients for the hcp Cobalt
crystal. The easy axis of the hcp Cobalt crystal is assumed to be along the x3 direction,
and thus the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy can be given as
Hani = Ku sin2 1

(4)

where Ku is the anisotropy constant. The exchange energy can be expressed as the gradient
of magnetization, i.e.
Hexc = Ae (1,j 1,j + sin2 1 2,j 2,j )

(5)

where Ae is the exchange stiffness constant. The magnetostatic energy has the form
1
Hmag = 0 Hj Hj 0 Ms (H1 sin 1 cos 2 + H2 sin 1 sin 2 + H3 cos 1 )
2

(6)

in which 0 = 4107 H/m is the vacuum permeability and Hj = ,j is the magnetic field
with being the magnetic scalar potential.
With the above specified magnetic enthalpy, a combination of the configurational force
balance and the second law of thermodynamics leads to a generalized evolution equation for
the order parameters 1 and 2 , which takes the form [24]


1
H
1 H
1

+ ex = L
Ms ,j ,j Ms
0
t
in which

L =

sin 1

sin 1 sin2 1

(7)

(8)

ex is the external field, is the damping coefficient, and 0 = 1.76 1011 /(T s) is the
gyromagnetic ratio. The Greek indices and run over the range of 1-2.
In addition to the evolution equation (7), the following mechanical equilibrium equation
and the Maxwells equation which governs the magnetic part are also incorporated in the
model:


H
ij


=0
,j

(9)

and


H
=0

Hj ,j

(10)

With the six degrees of freedom as [u1 , u2 , u3 , , 1 , 2 ]T , a 3D nonlinear finite element

implementation is performed to solve equations (7), (9), and (10). It should be noted that
the degrees of freedom are reduced by one when compared to the conventional phase field
model. For more details about the model and its implementation, one is referred to the
previous work [24].
The prism shape of the hcp Cobalt nanomagnet is schematized in Figure 1, with a height
of h and a square base plane with width of w. The material parameters are listed in Table
1 [25, 26]. The choice of the finite element mesh size is based on a physical criterion: the
maximum mesh size must be smaller than the minimum of the exchange length and the
Bloch length [27]. Using the parameters in Table 1, the Bloch length is much larger than
p
the exchange length which can be estimated as lex = 2Ae /(0 Ms2 ) 5.1 nm [28]. Based
on this, the mesh size in all the simulations is taken as 2.5 nm. Cuboid nanomagnets with
different w and h are simulated under the mechanical loading along the x3 direction. The
mechanical loading is represented by strain in the x3 direction, denoted by for simplicity,
as shown in Figure 1. It should be noted that when the magnetization is exactly along the
x3 direction, the torque induced by mechanical loading along the x3 direction will vanish and
no magnetization rotation will occur numerically. In order to avoid this numerical problem,
the initial magnetization is chosen to be almost along the positive x3 direction with a small

w
x2
2

x1

m
1

x3

Fig. 1. Schematic of the cuboid hcp Cobalt model under study, with x3 as the easy axis of magnetization.
6

angle of 1 = 0.01 . Simulations are performed to investigate whether the mechanical loading
can switch the magnetization from the initial positive x3 direction to the final negative x3
direction.
Table 1. Material parameters of the hcp Cobalt nanomagnet
Parameter

Value

Elastic constant C11

307 GPa

Elastic constant C12

165 GPa

Elastic constant C44

75.5 GPa

Elastic constant C13

103 GPa

Elastic constant C33

358 GPa

Magneto-elastic coupling constant B1

-8.1 MPa

Magneto-elastic coupling constant B2

-29 MPa

Magneto-elastic coupling constant B3

28.2 MPa

Magneto-elastic coupling constant B4

29.4 MPa
6.5104 J/m3

Anisotropy constant Ku
Saturation magnetization magnitude Ms

1.424106 A/m

Exchange stiffness constant Ae

3.31011 J/m

Damping coefficient

3.

0.01

Results and discussions

3.1.

Mechanically induced switching mode

The size dependence of the switching dynamics in cuboidal hcp Cobalt nanomagnets
under mechanical loading is investigated. Due to the negative magnetostriction effect,
compressive loading cannot switch magnetization from the above-prescribed initial state.
Therefore, a tensile loading of = 1.0% is used. It is found that when the nanomagnets
are small, coherent switching occurs and all the magnetization vectors rotate to the x1 -x2
plane. While in the case of large nanomagnets, incoherent switching occurs and the obtained
stable magnetization distribution is spatially inhomogeneous. As an example, Figure 2 gives
the switching process of two nanomagnet samples. For the small sample with w = h = 15
nm, all the magnetization vectors rotate coherently, as shown in Figure 2(a). Whereas, for
the relatively large sample with w = 15 nm and h = 30 nm, coherent rotation only exists
7

(a)

t=0 ns

t=10 ns

t=12.5 ns

t=25 ns

t=10 ns

t=12.5 ns

t=25 ns

(b)

t=0 ns

x2
x1

x3

Exchange energy (J/m3)

5105

Fig. 2. Temporal evolution of the magnetization vectors under the mechanical loading = 1.0%. (a)
Coherent switching process in the nanomagnet with w = h = 15 nm. (b) Incoherent switching process in the
nanomagnet with w = 15 nm and h = 30 nm.

in the first 10 ns. Afterwards incoherent rotation predominates and the exchange energy
remarkably increases, as shown in Figures 2(b) and 3(c). Figures 3(a) and (b) compare the
temporal evolution curves of magnetization components in these two cases. The plotted
curves for incoherent switching are averaged over the whole sample. It can be seen that
due to the small damping in hcp Cobalt, the magnetization components m1 and m2 oscillate violently. In the small nanomagnet, coherent rotation under mechanical loading leads
to a stable homogeneous magnetization state with 1 = 90 and 2 = 135 , which implies

m3 = 0 and m1 = m2 = 2/2 (Figure 3(a)). On the contrary, in the large nanomagnet,

the incoherent rotation leads to a totally different magnetization state, which is featured
by inhomogeneous magnetization and the net magnetization along the x2 direction (Figure
3(b)). This is also different from the magnetic field induced switching, in which the final
net magnetization is parallel to the applied magnetic field in spite of the incoherent rotation
[29].
8

(a)

(b)

w=15 nm, h=15 nm

30 nm
w=15 nm, h=25

m1
m2
m3

m1
m2
m3

(d)

(c)

w=15 nm, h=25

30 nm
w=15 nm, h=15 nm

Fig. 3. Temporal evolution of the magnetization components in nanomagnets with the geometry of (a)
w = h = 15 nm and (b) w = 15 nm, h = 30 nm. (c) Temporal evolution of the exchange energy. (d) Switching
mode as a function of w and h.

Furthermore, we performed simulations on a series of nanomagnets with different w and

h to identify the transition between these two distinctive switching modes. Figure 3(d)
depicts the switching modes of the nanomagnets with respect to geometry parameters h
and w, with a transition boundary identified. It can be found that when w 12.5 nm,
coherent switching happens for any values of h, whereas incoherent switching happens when
w > 15 nm. For w = 15 nm, h = 22.5 nm becomes the boundary for coherent and incoherent
switching. It seems that the transition boundary is at wtb = 12.5-15 nm, which is nearly
3 times of the exchange length, i.e. wtb 3lex . It should be noted that the experimental
work has shown that the width of magnetic vortex in a nanostructured film is also around
9

3lex [30]. This implies that the coherent switching is preferable when w is smaller than the
vortex width. The coherent switching should be free from the vortex formation, while the
incoherent switching suffers from the tendency to form vortex. Indeed, as shown in Figure
2(b) the exchange energy distribution in the incoherent switching is really accompanied with
the tendency of vortex formation; because the vortex core often initializes at the site whose
exchange energy is high.
(a)

(b)

initial state

Fig. 4. (a) Trajectories of the magnetization vectors under different tensile strain . The inset cubes
accompanied by arrows illustrate the initial and final state of the magnetization. (b) Evolution of the angle
1 as a function of time under different . The simulated nanomagnet has the geometry of w = h = 15 nm.

3.2.

Mechanically induced deterministic 90 switching

As shown above, in the case of incoherent switching mode, although the net magnetization
component m3 of the nanomagnet as a whole can reach zero, vortex tends to form and only
a portion of magnetization vectors undergo 90 switching. Therefore, we will focus on the
deterministic 90 switching in the case of coherent switching mode. The nanomagnet with
w = h = 15 nm is chosen for the following simulations. The final stable magnetization
state under the mechanical loading is highly dependent on the tensile strain , but this
dependence seems to follow no definite laws, as shown in Figure 4(a). For different , the
evolution trajectories of the magnetization which is initially nearly parallel to the x3 direction
(i.e. 1 0) are almost the same before it reaches the x1 -x2 plane (i.e. 1 = 90 ). When
the magnetization vector approaches the x1 -x2 plane, it will rotate and finally stochastically
arrive at four equilibrium states denoted by (1 , 2 ): (90 , 45 ), (90 , 135 ), (90 , 225 ), and
10

(90 , 315 ). Figure 4(b) shows the temporal evolution of 1 as a function of tensile strain
. Results indicate that there exists a critical value c , and strains above this value can
lead to a deterministic 90 switching. From Figure 4(b), c can be estimated as 0.16-0.17%.
= 0.16% can only result in a state with 1 45 , while = 0.17% can lead to a stable
1 97 . However, when < 0.2%, the switching time for reaching the stable magnetization
state is extremely long, up to several thousand nanoseconds. This huge time consumption
cannot satisfy the fast logic and memory devices. Therefore a strain loading higher than 0.2%
is required. The switching time is reduced from several hundred nanoseconds at = 0.2%
to several nanoseconds at = 2.0%. Most interestingly, it is found that for between 0.17%
and 3.0%, during the magnetization evolution, 1 can reach over 90 , with maximum values
up to 90.4 -122 .
In order to get a deeper understanding on the 90 switching, the temporal evolution of
different energy is analysed in Figure 5(a). Only the energy related to the magnetization
is considered here, so the plotted total energy H0 does not include the pure mechanical
contribution. For comparison, the temporal evolution of energy in an incoherent switching
mode is also plotted (Figure 5(b)). During the 90 switching in a coherent mode (Figure
5(a)), only the magneto-elastic energy decreases. The decrease in magneto-elastic energy is
accompanied by the increase in the anisotropy energy. This indicates that the magneticmechanical coupling is the driving force for this switching process. It should be noted that
the high level of magnetostatic energy which remains unchanged is favorable for coherent
switching; because the induced large demagnetization field can force the magnetization to
the same direction in the whole nanomagnet. On the contrary, in the incoherent switching
in Figure 5(b), the exchange energy and the anisotropy energy increase, while the magnetoelastic energy and the magnetostatic energy decrease. The change of magneto-elastic energy
and anisotropy energy in Figure 5(a) is almost the same as that in Figure 5(b). This implies
that the decrease in magnetostatic energy is responsible for the increase in exchange energy
and thus the tendency to form vortex. Therefore, from the viewpoint of energy, magnetoelastic energy originating from the magneto-elastic coupling is responsible for the switching,
while the magnetostatic energy originated from the demagnetization field is responsible for
the switching mode. In the small nanomagnet, the decrease of demagnetization field is not
11

favorable, thus resulting in unchanged magnetostatic energy and coherent switching mode.
In contrast, in the large nanomagnet, the transfer from the magnetostatic energy to exchange
energy is favorable, thus resulting in the tendency to form vortex and incoherent switching
mode.

(a)

(b)

mech

w=15 nm, h=15 nm

mech

w=15 nm, h=30 nm

Fig. 5. Temporal evolution of different energy terms related to magnetization in nanomagnets with the
geometry of (a) w = h = 15 nm and (b) w = 15 nm, h = 30 nm, subjected to the tensile strain = 1.0%. The
pure mechanical contribution is not included in H0

3.3.

Mechanically induced deterministic 180 switching

As it has been shown in Figure 4(b) that if the mechanical loading remains all the
time, after the oscillation near the x1 -x2 plane, 1 will reach a stable value of 90 . In
this case, only 90 switching happens. If the loading is removed after 1 reaches 90 , the
magnetization has equal possibility to revert back to the initial state and to switch by
180 . In other words, a deterministic 180 switching cannot occur. However, as indicated
in Figure 4(b), during the 90 switching, 1 can reach over 90 , with maximum values
up to 90.4 -122 . If the mechanical loading is removed once the 1 reaches its maximum
value, a deterministic 180 switching will occur. As an example, Figure 6(a) shows the
switching dynamics after a tensile strain of = 1.0% is removed at the 16 ns when 1
reaches its maximum 91.4 . Upon removal of the loading at this maximum angle, it takes
another around 42 ns to completely switch by 180 with respect to the initial state. The
oscillation of magnetization components m1 and m2 agrees with the nature of dampingdependent precessional switching in magnetization dynamics. From the energetic viewpoint,
12

the switching process is displayed in Figure 6(b). After the mechanical loading is removed,
the nanomagnet is stress-free and the pure mechanical contribution Hmech reduce to zero
abruptly (not plotted here). The deterministic 180 switching is a result of the evolution of
magneto-elastic energy and anisotropy energy. In the stress-free stage, the magneto-elastic
energy increases while the anisotropy energy decreases. Therefore, during the switching
from 90 to 180 , the anisotropy energy is the driving force.

(a)

(b)

m1
m2
m3

mech

Fig. 6. (a) Mechanical loading history and temporal evolution of magnetization components in the nanomagnet (w = h = 15 nm) subjected to the tensile strain = 1.0%. (b) Temporal evolution of different energy
terms related to magnetization in the nanomagnet (w = h = 15 nm) subjected to loading and subsequent
unloading. The pure mechanical contribution Hmech is not included in H0

13

(a)

(b)
at maximum 1

Fig. 7. (a) Temporal evolution of 1 in the nanomagnet (w = h = 15 nm) subjected to different mechanical
loading and subsequent unloading. Once 1 reaches its maximum value during the loading, the load is
removed and the nanomagnet is stress-free. (b) The time for 180 switching as a function of strain. The
insets illustrate the switching process.

As shown in Figure 7(a), this 180 switching is also dependent on the applied strain.
When 0.2%, the time for switching from 90 to 180 is even much smaller than that
for the former 90 switching. While in the case of > 0.2%, the former switching from 0
to 90 is much faster. In Figure 7(b), the total time for the deterministic 180 switching
is plotted as a function of the applied strain. It can be seen that in spite of the different
intermediate states achieved in 90 switching, the switching time decreases with the applied
strain, from 620 ns at = 0.17% to 49 ns at = 3.0%. But the decreasing tendency becomes
less notable as the strain increases, and a saturation seems to appear. Although the hcp
Cobalt single crystal can undergo strain more than 3% [31], this mechanically dependent
behavior indicates that a moderate mechanical loading should be sufficient.
3.4.

Deterministic 180 switching under mechanical loading combined with a magnetic field

Deterministic 180 switching under the combination of mechanical loading and a magnetic
field is also investigated. The magnetic field is antiparallel to the initial direction of the
magnetization. The magnetic field are applied through the whole time regime, while the
strain is applied merely till the maximum 1 is reached, as it is discussed in the subsection
3.3. Figure 8(a) demonstrates the evolution of magnetization components for two cases:
14

one is solely under a magnetic field of 105 A/m, and the other is under the same magnetic
field but with an additional tensile strain of 0.2%. It is apparent that the switching time is
remarkably reduced by the additional strain.
(a)

m1
m2
m3

(b)

m1
m2
m3

Fig. 8. (a) Temporal evolution of magnetization components in the nanomagnet (w = h = 15 nm) subjected
to mechanical loading and magnetic field. (b) The time for 180 switching as s function of mechanical strain
under different magnetic field in the nanomagnet of w = h = 15 nm.

The results which capture the relationship among the switching time, strain, and magnetic field are summarized in Figure 8(b). In particular, a magnetic field of 0.5105 A/m
alone cannot switch the magnetization by 180 . But the addition of a strain of 0.05% can
accomplish the 180 switching. A compressive strain or a large tensile strain can always
lead to an increase in the switching time. But low tensile strain can shorten the switching
time. The optimum minimum switching time lies around a tensile strain of 0.2%, almost
independent on the magnitude of the magnetic field. This additional strain of 0.2% can
result in a decrement of around 71 ns in the switching time under the magnetic field of 105
A/m. This effect becomes less notable as the magnetic field increases. For instance, the
strain reduces the switching time only by 9 ns under a magnetic field of 2105 A/m and by
1 ns under a field of 5105 A/m. Hence, application of an additional tensile strain is more
favourable when the magnetic field is relatively low.

15

4.

Conclusions
The mechanically induced deterministic 180 switching in hcp Cobalt nanomagnets is

studied by a constraint-free phase field model, in which the constraint on the magnetization
magnitude can be strictly satisfied automatically and the magneto-elastic coupling can be
explicitly included. It is found that there exist two switching modes, coherent switching
and incoherent switching. The switching mode is demonstrated to be controlled by the
magnetostatic energy and thus the geometry of the nanomagnet. The transition between
these two switching modes is identified. In the case of coherent switching mode, a deterministic 90 switching is possible when the strain exceeds a critical value. The removal of
the mechanical loading once the magnetization rotates to the maximum angle can lead to
a deterministic 180 switching. The 180 switching is driven firstly by the magneto-elastic
coupling and then by the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The time for 180 switching decreases with the applied strain and a saturation appears at high strain. The magnetization
switching by the magnetic field combined with the mechanical loading and unloading is also
explored. It is shown that an optimum switching time is obtained when the mechanical
strain is around 0.2%. These results indicate that mechanically driven/assisted 180 switching of nanomagnets is feasible. It should stimulate the study on mechanically switchable
nanomagnets-based logic and memory devices.

Acknowledgmets
The support from the LOEWE research cluster RESPONSE (Hessen, Germany), the
China Scholarship Council , and the Innovation Foundation of BUAA for PhD Graduates
(YWF-14-YJSY-052) is acknowledged.

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