Thermal contribution in the electrical switching experiments with heavy metal/antiferromagnet structures

We examine the thermal origin of detected “saw-tooth” shaped Hall resistance ([Formula: see text]) signals in spin–orbit torque switching experiment for antiferromagnetic MnN. Compared with results heavy metal/antiferromagnet bilayers (MnN/Ta), qualitatively same also appear samples metal layer alone (either Ta or Pt) without MnN layer. In addition, [Formula: text] signal changes oppositely devices and Pt, due to opposite temperature coefficient resistivity two materials. All those are consistent “localized Joule heating” mechanism crosses geometry. Moreover, by utilizing a structure separated writing current paths cross area, quadratic relationship between current's amplitude is observed, which provides quantitative evidence contribution. These reveal dominant artifact widely used geometry Néel vector probing provide strategy semi-quantitatively evaluate effect, can shed light on more conclusive design.