Room-Temperature Skyrmions in an Antiferromagnet-Based Heterostructure

TLDR

Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin textures with potential for memory devices, and recent work has focused on room‑temperature skyrmions in heavy‑metal/ferromagnetic heterostructures, where antiferromagnet/ferromagnet stacks offer zero‑field stabilization, tunable AFM order, and strong spin–orbit torque. This study reports the unexpected stabilization of a room‑temperature skyrmion phase in IrMn/CoFeB antiferromagnet/ferromagnet heterostructures. The authors used spatial imaging of individual skyrmions, quantified the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, and demonstrated current‑driven skyrmion motion. These results confirm that AFM/FM heterostructures support room‑temperature skyrmions, enabling zero‑field stabilization, efficient current manipulation, and establishing a promising platform for skyrmion physics and device applications.

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions as swirling spin textures with a nontrivial topology have potential applications as magnetic memory and storage devices. Since the initial discovery of skyrmions in non-centrosymmetric B20 materials, the recent effort has focused on exploring room-temperature skyrmions in heavy metal and ferromagnetic heterostructures, a material platform compatible with existing spintronic manufacturing technology. Here, we report the surprising observation that a room-temperature skyrmion phase can be stabilized in an entirely different class of systems based on antiferromagnetic (AFM) metal and ferromagnetic (FM) metal IrMn/CoFeB heterostructures. There are a number of distinct advantages of exploring skyrmions in such heterostructures including zero-field stabilization, tunable antiferromagnetic order, and sizable spin–orbit torque (SOT) for energy-efficient current manipulation. Through direct spatial imaging of individual skyrmions, quantitative evaluation of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, and demonstration of current-driven skyrmion motion, our findings firmly establish the AFM/FM heterostructures as a promising material platform for exploring skyrmion physics and device applications.