Spin Seebeck devices using local on-chip heating

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by  Stephen M. Wu

Spin Seebeck devices using local on-chip heating
Stephen M. Wu,1,a) Frank Y. Fradin,1 Jason Hoffman,1 Axel Hoffmann,1 and Anand Bhattacharya1
Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439,
USA
(Dated: 2 February 2015)
A micro-patterned spin Seebeck device is fabricated using an on-chip heater. Current is driven through a
Au heater layer electrically isolated from a bilayer consisting of Fe O (insulating ferrimagnet) and a spin
3 4
5 detector layer. It is shown that through this method it is possible to measure the longitudinal spin Seebeck
1 effect (SSE) for small area magnetic devices, equivalent to traditional macroscopic SSE experiments. Using
0 a lock-in detection technique it is possible to more sensitively characterize both the SSE and the anomalous
2 Nernst effect (ANE), as well as the inverse spin Hall effect in various spin detector materials. By using the

n spin detector layer as a thermometer, we can obtain a value for the temperature gradient across the device.
a These results are well matched to values obtained through electromagnetic/thermal modeling of the device
J structure and with large area spin Seebeck measurements.

8
2
The spin Seebeck effect (SSE) has been widely stud- current source, while X serves as a spin detector layer

] ied due to the implications it has on the generation of that responds to spin current through the inverse spin
l
l pure spin currents1,2. In the SSE, applying a thermal Hall effect (ISHE).
a
h gradient across a magnetic insulator generates a pure Fe O is grown on MgAl O (100) substrates using
3 4 2 4
- spin current that flows into an adjacent material with- ozoneassistedoxidemolecularbeamepitaxy(MBE),de-
s
e out any chargecurrent3. Experiments involvingthe SSE scribed elsewhere6. The film is then patterned into 10
m have taken many forms, but the canonical method has µm x 800 µm strips through standard photolithography
. been to use large area ferromagnetic insulators on the and liquid nitrogen cooled Ar+ ion milling. Liquid ni-
at order of several millimeters combined with Peltier ele- trogen cooling is used to limit defects introduced by the
m ments to generate a thermal gradient. There are several ionmillingprocess. Usingalift-offprocesswithstandard
- disadvantagesto this technique including being sensitive photolithographyandelectronbeamevaporation,alayer
d to materialnon-uniformity,being confinedto using large
n samples, and being limited by complicated experimental
o
setups.
c
[ Here we introduce a micro-patterned spin Seebeck de- 6# 7489:#
vice to solve many of these issues. We measure a mi-

1 croscale SSE using confined local on-chip heating, which
v iselectricallyseparatedfromboththespincurrentsource 4 #
5/6+
9
9 and spin current detector. Using this method it is possi- !"# !’#
ble tosensitivelyexaminelocalmagnetization,localspin $%&#
5
7 current, and local spin to charge conversion in a sim- ’()*+#,-#’(#
0 ple and scalable device structure. Since the devices are ./&#
0 1
1. small, it is possible to easily integrate them into con- $%!23&1#
0 ventional cryostat systems. While there are alternative 9#
5 small-areaspinSeebecktechniquessuchaslaserheating4
1 orcurrentinducedheatingusingthespindetectorlayer5, ;#
: each has its disadvantages. Laser heating involves addi-
v
i tional experimental setup, making it harder to integrate
X
into existing device measurementsetups, andcurrentin-
r ducedheatingusingthespindetectorlayergeneratessev-
a
eral undesired conventionalcharge transporteffects that
must be separated to extract the SSE.
In this work, our devices consist of Fe O (60
3 4
nm)/X/MgO (100 nm)/Au (100 nm) on MgAl O sub-
2 4
strates, where X is either Ti (15 nm), Ti (1.5 nm)/Pt (5
nm) or absent (Fig. 1a). On-chip heating is provided by
the Au layer, which is electrically isolated from the rest
ofthedevicebyalayerofMgO.Fe O servesasthespin FIG. 1. A schematic of a typical spin Seebeck device is pre-
3 4
sented in (a). A model of theactual device structureused in
experiments and simulations is presented in (b). The pillars
representwirebondsmadetothedevice,thewirebondsonthe
a)Electronicmail: [email protected] second set of pads are hidden for viewing clarity.
2
ofTi/PtorPtisthendepositedontotheFe O strip. Fi-
3 4 1.5 25
nally, using the same lift-off processthe MgO/Auheater 0.4 Fe3O4/Ti/Pt
layerispatternedontothedevice,withseparatecontacts V0.2 Fe3O4/Ti
to the side. The finished device is shown in a 3D model 1.2 V (0.0 Fe3O4 20
in Fig. 1b. -0.2
The response in the spin current detector layer is V) 0.9 -0.4 -2 0 2 15
E~ISHE ∝ J~S × σˆ, where J~S is the injected spin cur- V ( 0.6 Magnetic Field (kOe) 10
rent, and σˆ is the unit vector of the spin. Because the
spincurrentinjectedintotheadjacentspindetectorlayer
0.3 5
is directly proportional to the thermal gradient and the
magnetization, the total response is E~ ∝ ∇T ×M~.
SSE
0.0 0
We are not limited to using DC techniques to detect the
ISHE signal from the spin detector layer. By using AC
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
lock-indetection, the sensitivity ofthe measurementcan
be greatlyincreased. Since the power generatedthrough Temperature (K)
Joule heating P =I2 R∝∇T, the voltagemeasured FIG.2. ThemagnitudeofthespinSeebeck/anomalousNernst
heater
will also be ∝ I2 . If an AC signal is used to excite response with respect to temperature. Devices with spin de-
heater
the heater I ∝ sin(ωt), then the measured voltage tector layers of Ti (15 nm), Ti(1.5 nm)/Pt (5 nm), and a
heater
V ∝ 1(1−cos(2ωt)). By lock-in detecting the 90◦ out- control device with Fe3O4 are presented. The inset curve is
2 anexampleofaspinSeebecksignalwithrespecttomagnetic
of-phase component at the 2ω frequency it is possible to
field for a Ti/Pt device at 15 K. The linear contribution to
detect the spin Seebeck effect withmuchhigher sensitiv-
thisvoltageresponseislikelyduetotheordinaryNernsteffect
itybecauseparasiticeffectsoccurattheω frequency. By
from the spin detector materials.
usingthis techniqueandignoringthe constantterm,itis
possible to detect signals as small as 2 nV depending on
the integration period of the lock-in amplifier.
deviceanddeviceswithspindetectorlayersareduetothe
The sample is mounted onto a standard circuit board largedifferenceinresistivitiesbetweenthedifferentfilms.
using silver paint, and contact to the device is made us- Thelowresistancespindetectorlayersessentiallyactasa
ing wirebonds before it is loaded into a Quantum De- shunt that reduces the total voltageresponse7,11. At the
sign Physical Properties Measurement System (PPMS) same time, the difference in the magnitudes between the
cryostatfor temperature and magnetic fieldcontrol. Ex- Ti and the Ti/Pt devices is explained by the individual
periments performed on three different device stacks are spin Hall angles of the two materials. The spin Hall an-
presentedinFig. 2,eachwithadifferentspincurrentde- gleinTiis smallandnegative,aspredictedtheoretically
tector layer (Ti, Ti/Pt, or Fe3O4 alone). In each exper- through tight binding calculations12 and experimentally
iment a constant 5 Vpp signal at 99 Hz is applied across observed13, while Pt has been the long standing canoni-
the Au heater and a 60 ohm load resistor. Since the re- calstandardfor ISHE experiments due to its largeISHE
sistance of the heater layer changes with temperature, response14. Our measurements reproduce these results
the power applied using this measurement also changes well,showingthatourmethodisequivalenttolargearea
from 17.2 mWrms at 300 K to 21.9 mWrms at 15 K. At macroscopic measurements.
each temperature the voltage across the device is mea- To look further in detail into the heat flow in our de-
sured with respect to an in-plane magnetic field applied vices, thermal simulations were performed on the device
transverse to E~SSE. A typical curve is presented in the model presented in Fig. 1b, using the Computer Simu-
inset of Fig. 2. The magnitude of the voltage response, lationTechnology(CST)Studio Suite softwaremodeling
as defined as the voltage difference at zero applied mag- package. Values for material resistivity were taken from
netic field for the two different magnetization states of measured values, while values for thermal conductivity
Fe3O4,is shown against temperature in Fig. 2. and heat capacity were taken from standard sources in
Fe O is only insulating below a well known metal- literature15,16. Since the device sits on a large substrate
3 4
insulatortransitionat120KknownastheVerweytransi- thatismountedusingsilverpaintontoastandardPPMS
tion. Attemperaturesabovethe Verweytransitionthere rotatorcircuitboardsolidlyheatsinkedtothePPMS,the
is a contribution from both the anomalous Nernst effect back side of the substrate is assumed to be held at the
from conducting Fe O , and the ISHE due to the SSE bathtemperature. Thesameconditionisassumedofthe
3 4
in Ti or Ti/Pt. At these temperatures it is not possible fourwirebondcontactstothedevice,sinceeachwirebond
to separate the two effects7. However,below the Verwey is also connected directly to the circuit board. The DC
transition ,there is a recoveryin both the Ti/Pt and the heater current chosen for this simulation was equivalent
Ti devices due to the SSE, while the signalin the Fe O to the maximum peak current in our AC measurements,
3 4
controldevicegoestozero. The1.5nmTispacerlayerin 24.5 mA at 300 K and 30.1 mA at 15 K. The resulting
betweentheFe O andthe PtintheTi/Ptdeviceserves heater power loss density is presented in Fig. 3a for a
3 4
toremoveanyeffectsfromproximitymagnetism8–10. The Ti/Pt device at 300 K. This shows that all the heater
largedifferenceinmagnitudesbetweentheFe O control power is constrainedto the narrowestand most resistive
3 4
3
a
Using thermal simulation it is possible to model the
out-of-planethermalgradientacrosseachthinfilminthe
centerofourdevice(Fig. 4). Thethermalgradientacross
just the Fe O layer is 0.298 K/µm at 300 K and 0.014
3 4
K/µmat15 K.This difference is consistentwith the rel-
ativemagnitudesofthethermalconductivityofFe O at
3 4
300 and 15 K. The inset of Fig. 4 shows that the much
larger temperature drop is across the substrate due to
its size relative to the thin film (550 µm vs. 0.06 µm).
b
It also shows that the temperature drop across the sub-
strate is non-uniform due to the heating being localized
to the device and not the entire top surface of the chip.
Locally at the surface, on the scale of our thin films, the
temperature distribution is highly linear.

302.23
FIG. 3. Electromagnetic and thermal simulation results for MgAl2O4 Fe3O4 MgO Au
a Ti/Pt spin Seebeck device. (a) shows the calculated power Pt
l(obs)ssdheonwssittyheducealctuolaJtoeudlelohceaalttienmgpinerathtuerehewaittehrinlatyheer,dwevhiiclee K)302.22 Ti
that results from heating. ure (
at
er302.21
p
m
partofthedevicewheretheFe O /Ti/Ptdevicestackis. e 302
3 4 T
Theresultingtemperaturewithinthe deviceispresented 302.20 301
in Fig 3b. The ∆T fromthe back ofthe substrate to the
300
top of the heater is 2.226 K at 300 K, and 0.565 K at
-500 -250 0
15 K. Given this ∆T, the voltage response measured in 302.19
-0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2
our devices match well with large area SSE experiments
on both thin film and bulk ferromagnets11,17. Since the Distance from substrate surface ( m)
largeareaexperimentsshowthatthereisalinearvoltage FIG.4. Temperatureintheout-of-planedirectionatthecen-
response to thermal gradient up to ∆T= 20 K, by opti- terofaTi/PtspinSeebeckdeviceascalculatedfromthermal
mizing the power transferred to our heater our signal to modeling. Theinsetshowsthesametemperaturedistribution
noise ratio could be increased even further by increasing at an expanded range through the entiresubstrate.
∆T in our system. The averaged ∆T along the device
length, shows the uniformity of the thermal gradient is Using the metallic spin detector layer in our device
within 3% according to simulations. as a thermometer, it is possible to compare the results
Although there is a large ∆T across the entire sub- of thermal modeling with measured values for ∆T. By
strate and device, the temperature drop across just the characterizing the resistance of the Ti (15 nm) strip in
Fe3O4 layer is not as large and depends its individual our Fe3O4/Ti spin Seebeck device we have a one-to-one
thermalconductivity. Characterizing∆Tacrossthinfilm relationbetweentemperatureandresistance. Byrunning
ferromagnets has been an ongoing challenge in SSE ex- an AC signal through our on-chip heater and measuring
periments both on the macroscale and the microscale the change in resistance in the Ti strip it is possible to
since there is no standard method to probe the tem- directly measure the change in temperature due to the
perature at both sides of the thin film7. By applying heater. The resistance of the Ti strip and its derivative
aconstant∆Tacrossthesubstrateandthe thinfilmfer- with respect to temperature is measured and shown in
romagnetthereisnoguaranteethatthethermalgradient Fig. 5a-b. Next, the same 99 Hz 5 Vpp signal is sent to
acrossthe thinfilmwillbe constantwithrespecttotem- the heater through a 60 ohm load like in the experiment
peraturesincethethermalconductivitiesofthesubstrate presented in Fig. 2. The peak to peak amplitude of the
and the thin film will change relative to each other. By change in resistance of the Ti strip is presented in Fig
using an on-chip heater, we effectively send a constant 5c. Finally, the change in temperature is derived from
heat current through the device instead of setting up a ∆T = ∆R (Fig. 5d). Measurements of the thermal
dR/dT
constant ∆T. This is analogous to performing a current time constant of our system revealed two time scales for
biased vs. voltage biased electrical measurement. Using changes in the resistance of Ti strip at all temperatures.
thismethoditmaybeeasiertoeliminatesubstratebased Oneofwhichoccursfasterthanourdataacquisitionsys-
effectssincethethermalgradientacrossthethinfilmfer- tem can resolve (5000 samples/s), and one of which oc-
romagnet will only depend on the properties of the thin curs onthe scale of seconds. The longertime constantis
filmandnotitsrelativevaluecomparedtothesubstrate. likelyduetoheatingtheentireexperimentalprobewithin
4

tection layer as a thermometer it is possible to extract a
5.5 equivalentthermalgradienttotheconstant∆Tmeasure-
a
)
5.0 ments in conventional spin Seebeck experiments. These
k
(4.5 measurements match well with thermal simulations of
R ourdevicestructure. Thistypeofdevicestructureallows
4.0
for easier access to lower temperature, higher magnetic
3.5
) field, and smaller magnetic materials all of which have
K
/ 9 b been challenging to explore using other methods, which
T ( 6 require more custom experimental setup. Through the
d exploration in these regimes it may be possible to pro-
/
R 3 vide further insight into the basic mechanisms behind
d
the SSE, as well as potentially finding other interesting
0 thermal spin transport phenomenon.
) c
4
(

R
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

0
All authors acknowledges support of the U.S. Depart-
K)1.2 d ment of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy
( Sciences (BES), Materials Sciences and Engineering Di-
T
vision. The use of facilities at the Center for Nanoscale
0.6
Materials, was supported by the U.S. DOE, BES under
contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.
0.0
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