Current-driven domain wall motion based memory devices: Application to a ratchet ferromagnetic strip

Ratchet memories, where perpendicular magnetocristalline anisotropy is tailored so as to precisely control the magnetic transitions, has been recently proven to be a feasible device to store and manipulate data bits. For such devices, it has been shown that the current-driven regime of domain walls can improve their performances with respect to the field-driven one. However, the relaxing time required by the traveling domain walls constitutes a certain drawback if the former regime is considered, since it results in longer device latencies. In order to speed up the bit shifting procedure, it is demonstrated here that the application of a current of inverse polarity during the DW relaxing time may reduce such latencies. The reverse current must be sufficiently high as to drive the DW to the equilibrium position faster than the anisotropy slope itself, but with an amplitude sufficiently low as to avoid DW backward shifting. Alternatively, it is possible to use such a reverse current to increase the proper range of operation for a given relaxing time, i.e., the pair of values of the current amplitude and pulse time that ensures single DW jumps for a certain latency time.