Switching plasticity in compensated ferrimagnetic multilayers for neuromorphic computing

Abstract

Current-induced multilevel magnetization switching in ferrimagnetic spintronic devices is highly pursued for the application in neuromorphic computing. In this work, we demonstrate the switching plasticity in Co/Gd ferrimagnetic multilayers where the binary states magnetization switching induced by spin–orbit toque can be tuned into a multistate one as decreasing the domain nucleation barrier. Therefore, the switching plasticity can be tuned by the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of the multilayers and the in-plane magnetic field. Moreover, we used the switching plasticity of Co/Gd multilayers for demonstrating spike timing-dependent plasticity and sigmoid-like activation behavior. This work gives useful guidance to design multilevel spintronic devices which could be applied in high-performance neuromorphic computing.