A Magnetic Flower State-Based Memory Cell

In an elliptical magnetic dot two vortices and a flower state configuration can be accommodated at remanence. We show that a two-fold degeneracy in the position of the flower state can be geometrically introduced and exploited for solid state data storage. Switching between two, energetically-equivalent, magnetic configurations is obtained by injecting a perpendicular electric current. Switching currents of the order of ~10⁵ A/cm² and high thermal stability are demonstrated by micromagnetic simulations. This system can be used as a bit-cell for magnetic solid state data storage. The low value of the switching current and the high thermal stability allow direct integration with the current complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology.