Electrically Controlled All‐Antiferromagnetic Tunnel Junctions on Silicon with Large Room‐Temperature Magnetoresistance

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials are a pathway to spintronic memory and computing devices with unprecedented speed, energy efficiency, and bit density. Realizing this potential requires AFM devices with simultaneous electrical writing and reading of information, which are also compatible with established silicon-based manufacturing. Recent experiments have shown tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) readout in epitaxial AFM tunnel junctions. However, these TMR structures are not grown using a silicon-compatible deposition process, and controlling their AFM order required external magnetic fields. Here it is shown three-terminal AFM tunnel junctions based on the noncollinear antiferromagnet PtMn3, sputter-deposited on silicon. The devices simultaneously exhibit electrical switching using electric currents, and electrical readout by a large room-temperature TMR effect. First-principles calculations explain the TMR in terms of the momentum-resolved spin-dependent tunneling conduction in tunnel junctions with noncollinear AFM electrodes.All-antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions featuring both electrical switching by spin-orbit torque, and electrical readout of their antiferromagnetic state by a large room-temperature tunnel magnetoresistance effect are reported. The devices are based on noncollinear antiferromagnetic PtMn3 and are sputter-deposited on silicon. These results pave the path toward realizing antiferromagnetic memory and high-frequency devices integrated on established semiconductor technologies. image