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  • Letter

Sputtered Sb2Te3 topological insulators with high temperature tolerance for efficient magnetization switching

Qi Zhang1, Xu Liu1, Meihong Liu1, Yining Wang1, Mingyu Wei2, Pengxiang Zhao1, Hanyuan Guo1, Junwei Zhang2, Baoshan Cui1,* et al.

Dezheng Yang1, Yalu Zuo1, Kun Tao1, Yong Peng2, Xin Cao3, Guchang Han3, Tiejun Zhou3, Bo Liu3, Xiaoxi Liu1, and Li Xi1,†

  • *Contact author: cuibs@lzu.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: xili@lzu.edu.cn

Phys. Rev. Applied 25, L041003 – Published 10 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2ppk-w539

Abstract

Topological insulators (TIs), characterized by topologically protected surface states within the band structure, hold promise for spintronic devices owing to their efficient charge-to-spin current conversion. However, most TIs exhibit significant degradation when temperatures reach 350–400 °C in the annealing process of semiconductor fabrication, limiting their integration into TIs-based magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) technologies. Here, we report the magnetron sputtering growth of high-quality Sb2Te3 thin films on Si/SiO2 substrates, achieving smooth surfaces and notable thermal stability. These films retain structural integrity and functional performance after 1 h of annealing at 350 °C. When integrated into Sb2Te3/Ti/CoFeB/MgO heterostructures, the 350 °C-annealed films exhibit a spin Hall angle of 1.6–3.5 (measured from 27 to 70 °C), surpassing conventional heavy metals (Pt, Ta) by an order of magnitude and significantly outperforming chemically vapor-deposited Sb2Te3 films. Furthermore, by engineering a wedge-shaped asymmetric Sb2Te3/Ti(wedged)/CoFeB/MgO structure, we achieve fieldfree perpendicular magnetization switching with a critical current density on the order of 105A/cm2—comparable to devices fabricated via molecular beam epitaxy. These findings highlight the viability of sputtered Sb2Te3 for energy-efficient spintronics, offering industrial-compatible fabrication, robust high temperature resilience, and low-power operation—critical attributes for advancing next-generation MRAM technologies.

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