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Spin-orbit-torque-enabled three-dimensional magnetic field sensor with low offset and high sensitivity

Sebastian Zeilinger*

Johannes Güttinger and Armin Satz

Klemens Prügl and Michael Kirsch

Joshua M. Salazar-Mejía

Sabri Koraltan

Philip Heinrich, Bernd Aichner, and Florian Bruckner

Sophie Zeilinger

Hubert Brückl

Dieter Suess

  • Faculty Center for Nano Structure Research, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

  • *Contact author: sebastian.zeilinger@univie.ac.at
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Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 064037 – Published 11 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/997y-hk7m

Abstract

In this work we demonstrate a spin-orbit-torque (SOT) magnetic field sensor, designed as a Ta/CoFeB/MgO structure, with high sensitivity and capable of active offset compensation in all three spatial directions. This is described and verified in experiment and simulation. The measurements of magnetic fields showed an offset of 35, 42, and 3μT for x-, y-, and z-fields respectively. Furthermore, the sensitivities of these measurements had values of 590, 580, and 490VA−1T−1 in the x-, y-, and z-direction, respectively. In addition, the robustness to bias fields is demonstrated via experiments and single-spin simulations by applying bias fields in the y-direction. Cross sensitivities were further analyzed via single-spin simulations, performing a parameter sweep of different bias fields in the y- and z-direction up to ±1mT. The extraction of the SOT parameters ηDL and ηFL is shown via an optimization of a single-spin curve to the experimental measurements.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 064037– Published 11 December, 2025
  • Received 31 July 2025
  • Revised 16 October 2025
  • Accepted 21 November 2025
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