Quantifying polycrystallinity effects on skyrmion dynamics and device performance

Abstract

Skyrmion-based devices promise energy-efficient spintronic functionalities, but polycrystalline magnetic films can degrade performance by inducing skyrmion pinning. Here, we use micromagnetic modeling to quantify the impact of polycrystallinity-induced variability in key material parameters such as saturation magnetization, Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, and uniaxial anisotropy on skyrmion stability, dynamics, and hysteresis loops in Co/Pt films and device geometries. We demonstrate that variations exceeding 5% in these parameters across grains significantly increase the likelihood of pinning, with the effects depending on both grain size and distribution. Our findings establish quantitative tolerance thresholds and highlight the importance of fabricating films with narrow grain size distributions and stringent control over material uniformity to enable robust, pinning-free operation in skyrmion-based spintronic devices. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.