[EN]Perpendicular synthetic antiferromagnets (p-SAFs) are of interest
for the next generation of ultrafast, high-density spintronic memory
and logic devices. However, to efficiently operate their magnetic or-
der by current-induced spin-orbit torques (SOTs), an unfavored high
external magnetic field is conventionally required to break the sym-
metry. Here, we report the field-free SOT switching of a p-SAF
through the introduction of an interlayer with Dzyaloshinskii-
Moriya interactions (DMIs). We experimentally observe the exis-
tence of the DMI interlayer in our SAF sample by an azimuthal
angular-dependent anomalous Hall measurement. Deterministic
field-free switching is accomplished in such a sample and depicted
by macrospin and micromagnetic simulations. The comparison be-
tween the uniaxial interlayer DMI and the azimuthal direction-
dependent switching behavior strongly suggests its origin from
the DMI interlayer. We demonstrate the compatibility of the pro-
posed strategy with magnetic tunnel junction device structure.
Our results provide a strategy for p-SAF-based high-performance
SOT devices.
