Anomalous anti-damping in sputtered β-Ta/Py bilayer system

Anomalous decrease in effective damping parameter αeff in sputtered Ni81Fe19 (Py) thin films in contact with a very thin β-Ta layer without necessitating the flow of DC-current is observed. This reduction in αeff, which is also referred to as anti-damping effect, is found to be critically dependent on the thickness of β-Ta layer; αeff being highest, i.e., 0.0093 ± 0.0003 for bare Ni81Fe19(18 nm)/SiO2/Si compared to the smallest value of 0.0077 ± 0.0001 for β-Ta(6 nm)/Py(18 nm)/SiO2/Si. This anomalous anti-damping effect is understood in terms of interfacial Rashba effect associated with the formation of a thin protective Ta2O5 barrier layer and also the spin pumping induced non-equilibrium diffusive spin-accumulation effect in β-Ta layer near the Ta/Py interface which induces additional spin orbit torque (SOT) on the moments in Py leading to reduction in αeff. The fitting of αeff (tTa) revealed an anomalous negative interfacial spin mixing conductance, g(↑↓) = -1.13  ± .05 × 10(18) m(-2) and spin diffusion length, λSD = 2.47 ± 0.47 nm. The increase in αeff observed above tTa = 6 nm is attributed to the weakening of SOT at higher tTa. The study highlights the potential of employing β-Ta based nanostructures in developing low power spintronic devices having tunable as well as low value of α.