Impact of SOT & STT stress on MTJ degradation in SOT-MRAM

SOT-MRAM devices are promising due to a decoupled read and write path. As such, SOT-MRAM is considered robust against MgO breakdown of the MTJ. However, during switching, high current densities flow through the thin metallic SOT layer causing significant self-heating of the MTJ. We investigate the degradation of the MTJ during hybrid SOT & STT stress. The resilience to breakdown is impacted by the SOT stress because of the elevated MTJ temperature, supported by thermal simulations.