Study of precessional switching speed control in voltage-controlled perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction

We study the characteristics of the precessional switching induced by voltage control of magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) in back-end-of-line (BEOL)-compatible perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction devices. Using micromagnetic simulation, we find three operation regimes differentiated by zero excess energy, lower boundary, zero energy barrier, and upper boundary. Experimentally, the switching speed (f(s)) is characterized by two phases: non-precession and acceleration. Non-precession is a thermal mediated phase, where f(s) cannot be deduced, while in acceleration, both the higher electric field (EF) and in-plane field (B-x) increase f(s) progressively. We find that the intrinsic thresholds can be retrieved by linear extrapolation of f(s) as a function of EF. Those thresholds and experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation. In addition, we numerically calculate the characteristic switching speed of 2 gamma(*)m(z)(*)B(x) and verify it experimentally. This work provides insights into the VCMA-induced precessional switching, including detailed understandings of the switching mechanism and modeling of switching speed for reliable write duration control for practical applications.