Entropy-reduced Retention Times in Magnetic Memory Elements: A Case of the Meyer-Neldel Compensation Rule

Phys Rev Lett. 2020 Sep 4;125(10):107201. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.107201.

Abstract

We compute mean waiting times between thermally activated magnetization reversals in a nanodisk with parameters similar to a free CoFeB layer used in magnetic random access memories. By combining Langer's theory and forward flux sampling simulations, we show that the Arrhenius prefactor can take values up to 10^{21} Hz, orders of magnitude beyond the value of 10^{9} Hz typically assumed, and varies drastically as a function of material parameters. We show that the prefactor behaves like an exponential of the activation energy, which highlights a case of the Meyer-Neldel compensation rule. This suggests that modeling information retention times with a barrier-independent prefactor in such magnetic storage elements is not justified.