Electron Beam Lithography of Magnetic Skyrmions. Issue 39 (18th August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Guang, Yao; Peng, Yong; Yan, Zhengren; Liu, Yizhou; Zhang, Junwei; Zeng, Xue; Zhang, Senfu; Zhang, Shilei; Burn, David M.; Jaouen, Nicolas; Wei, Jinwu; Xu, Hongjun; Feng, Jiafeng; Fang, Chi; van der Laan, Gerrit; Hesjedal, Thorsten; Cui, Baoshan; Zhang, Xixiang; Yu, Guoqiang; Han, Xiufeng
• Is Part Of: Advanced materials. Volume 32:Issue 39(2020)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2020-08-18
• Subjects: electron beam lithography -- magnetic skyrmions -- skyrmion lattices -- transmission electron microscopy; Materials -- Periodicals; Chemical vapor deposition -- Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202003003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0935-9648

Abstract

Abstract: The emergence of magnetic skyrmions, topological spin textures, has aroused tremendous interest in studying the rich physics related to their topology. While skyrmions promise high‐density and energy‐efficient magnetic memory devices for information technology, the manifestation of their nontrivial topology through single skyrmions and ordered and disordered skyrmion lattices could also give rise to many fascinating physical phenomena, such as chiral magnon and skyrmion glass states. Therefore, generating skyrmions at designated locations on a large scale, while controlling the skyrmion patterns, is the key to advancing topological magnetism. Here, a new, yet general, approach to the "printing" of skyrmions with zero‐field stability in arbitrary patterns on a massive scale in exchange‐biased magnetic multilayers is presented. By exploiting the fact that the antiferromagnetic order can be reconfigured by local thermal excitations, a focused electron beam with a graphic pattern generator to "print" skyrmions is used, which is referred to as skyrmion lithography. This work provides a route to design arbitrary skyrmion patterns, thereby establishing the foundation for further exploration of topological magnetism. Abstract : A new, yet general, approach to the "printing" of skyrmions with zero‐field stability in arbitrary patterns is demonstrated. By exploiting the thermal reconfigurability of an antiferromagnet, skyrmion lithography can be achieved by writing with a focused electron beam. The work on skyrmion printing will enable the exploration of topological magnetism.