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Conventional magnetic random access memory (MRAM) devices rely on spin-transfer torque (STT), this however limits MRAM applications because of the nanoseconds incubation delay and associated endurance issues. A potential alternative to STT is spin-orbit torque (SOT). However, for practical, high-speed SOT devices, it must satisfy three conditions simultaneously, i.e., field-free switching at short current pulses, short incubation delay, and low switching current. Here, we demonstrate field-free SOT switching at sub-ns timescales in a CoFeB\/Ti\/CoFeB ferromagnetic trilayer, which satisfies all three conditions. In this trilayer, the bottom magnetic layer or its interface generates spin currents with polarizations in both in-plane and out-of-plane components. The in-plane component reduces the incubation time, while the out-of-plane component realizes field-free switching at a low current. Our results offer a field-free SOT solution for energy-efficient scalable MRAM applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-024-46113-1","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,28]],"date-time":"2024-02-28T10:03:00Z","timestamp":1709114580000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":59,"title":["Field-free spin\u2013orbit torque switching in ferromagnetic trilayers at sub-ns timescales"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Qu","family":"Yang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Donghyeon","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shishun","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0347-5100","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jaimin","family":"Kang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sung-Chul","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiayu","family":"Lei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6269-2266","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kyung-Jin","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8813-7025","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Byong-Guk","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0907-2898","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hyunsoo","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"46113_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"372","DOI":"10.1038\/nmat3311","volume":"11","author":"A Brataas","year":"2012","unstructured":"Brataas, A., Kent, A. 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