Figure 1
Principles of voltage-driven in-plane 180° magnetization switching.
(a) Schematic of multiferroic heterostructure consisting of an elliptical amorphous CoFeB nanomagnet on PZT thin film. Distributions of (b) out-of-plane electric field (Ez) and (c) in-plane piezostrain (εp = εyy − εxx) on the PZT surface (scale bar: 200 nm) upon applying a static 0.43-V-voltage to the two top electrodes. (d) Schematic illustrating the trajectory of designated in-plane 180° magnetization switching (black dashed line): an initially rightward magnetization vector M (purple dashed arrows) precesses around the -y-axis (or equivalently, +y-axis) under the application of εp; Releasing the piezostrain when M has a negative x-component triggers a reorientation of M to the leftward direction by precession and damping. <εp> represents the average of εp inside the central CoFeB region (marked the central ellipses in (b,c)).
