Ten States of Nonvolatile Memory through Engineering Ferromagnetic Remanent Magnetization

Emerging nonvolatile multilevel memory devices have been regarded as a promising solution to meet the increasing demand of high-density memory with low-power consumption. In particular, decimal system of the new computers instead of binary system could be developed if ten nonvolatile states are realized. Here, a general remanent magnetism engineering method is proposed for realizing multiple reliable magnetic and resistance states, not depending on a specific material or device structure. Especially, as a proof-of-concept demonstration, ten states of nonvolatile memory based on the manipulation of ferromagnetic remanent magnetization have been revealed in both Co/Pt magnetic multilayers with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and MgO-based magnetic tunneling junctions at room temperature. Considering ferromagnets have been one of the key factors that enabled the information revolution from its inception, this state-of-the-art remanent magnetism engineering approach has a very broad application prospect in the field of spintronics.