High voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy and interface magnetoelectric effect in sputtered multilayers annealed at high temperatures

Voltage control of magnetism promises great energy efficiency in writing magnetic memory. Here, using Cr/Mo/CoFeB/MgO multilayers stable under high annealing temperatures up to 590°C, we significantly enhance the interfacial crystallinity, thereby the interface-originated perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA), and interface magnetoelectric (ME) effect. High interfacial PMA of 1.35 mJ/m², VCMA coefficient of −138 fJ/(V m), and interface ME coefficient, which is 2–3 orders of magnitude larger than ab initio calculation results are simultaneously achieved after annealing at 500°C. These promising results enabled by the industry-applicable sputtering process will pave the way for high-density voltage-controlled spintronic devices.