JP7560871B2 - Inductor element and device including same - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to an inductor element and a device including the same. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a highly practical inductor element that utilizes the spin structure of electrons and a device including the same.

Among basic electronic elements, passive elements of an electric circuit that bring about a linear relationship between applied voltage and current are generally R (resistance), C (capacitance), and L (inductance) elements. The physical action of each element is the generation of heat accompanying current (R), energy storage due to electric charge (C), and energy storage due to magnetic field (L). Among these, the element that is responsible for inductance L (inductor element) is particularly lagging behind in miniaturization. For example, a product that shows the smallest size and high inductance value has a size of 0.6 x 0.3 x 0.3 ^mm3 and achieves an inductance value of about L = 130 nH to 270 nH.

On the other hand, spintronics operates on a different principle from conventional basic electronic elements, which use the amount of electric charge as their main operating principle. Physical phenomena based primarily on the spin of electrons in addition to the amount of electric charge have been discovered, and attempts are being made to apply them to passive elements, active elements, memory, and more. This field is also known as spintronics, and has made remarkable progress in recent years.

A group including the present inventor has created an inductor element with a metallic medium in which ordered spins are spatially oriented to have a non-collinear spin structure (Patent Document 1). This inductor element utilizes the magnetic order of the metallic medium, known as the non-collinear spin structure, and the electrical function of the inductor element is realized by passing a current through the metallic medium so that it has a projected component in a non-collinear direction.

International Publication No. 2020/027268

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. LQP03TN_02 series webpage, [online] last retrieved: January 28, 2021, URL; https://www.murata.com/en-global/products/emiconfun/inductor/2014/02/27/en-20140227-p1 T. Yokouchi et al., "Emergent electromagnetic induction in a helical-spin magnet", Nature 586, 232 (2020), DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2775-x Nirmal J. Ghimire et al., "Competing magnetic phases and fluctuation-driven scalar spin chirality in the kagome metal YMn6Sn6", Science Advances, Vol. 6, no. 51, eabe2680 (2020), DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe2680 G. Venturini et al., "Incommensurate magnetic structures of RMn6Sn6(R = Sc, Y, Lu) compounds from neutron diffraction study", Journal of Alloys and Compounds 236 (1996) 102-110 DOI: 10.1016/0925-8388(95 )01998-7

As various electronic devices continue to become smaller, the demand for miniaturization of various electronic circuit elements shows no sign of weakening. With conventional inductor elements, increasing the inductance value entails an increase in volume. In contrast, the inductor element disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a promising element that has an operating principle that can achieve miniaturization. However, there are only limited materials available for producing a highly practical inductor element based on that operating principle.

The present disclosure aims to solve at least one of the above problems by providing a novel material suitable for the operating principle of inductor elements that utilizes the quantum phenomenon exhibited between conduction electrons and the spin structure of electrons, thereby contributing to the miniaturization and high density of electronic circuits that employ inductor elements and devices that include such circuits.

The inventors have discovered a new material that operates based on the principle of an inductor element that utilizes the spin degree of freedom of electrons, and have completed this disclosure.

That is, in one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an inductor element comprising a metallic medium having a composition formula _{of RMn6X6} in which ordered spins are spatially oriented to have a non-collinear spin structure when traced in a certain direction, where R is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Mg, Sc, Y, Zr, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Lu, and Hf, and X is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Sn and Ge, in which a current is passed through the metallic medium such that it has a projected component in the direction, and an electronic device including the same.

Unless otherwise specified below, the inductor element includes elements and devices also called reactance elements, reactors, etc. In addition, due to notational constraints in application documents, the term "vector" may be added to the alphabet indicating a variable in the text, instead of displaying an arrow above the alphabet. Similarly, due to notational constraints, h-bar may be written in the text, and h-bar may mean the value obtained by dividing Planck's constant h by 2π. Furthermore, due to notational constraints, the academic convention of distinguishing between constants and variables by displaying variables in italics is not expressed as a string of characters, but only as an embedded image. Inconsistencies with conventions due to notational constraints and apparent inconsistencies in documents are due to notational constraints, and should not affect the disclosure of this disclosure or the interpretation of the scope of rights.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, it is possible to improve the practicality of inductor elements that utilize the freedom of electron spin and are easily miniaturized, thereby providing highly practical electronic devices.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operating principle of a conventional inductor element. 2A and 2B are explanatory diagrams illustrating the helical spin structure proposed in an embodiment of the present disclosure, showing the spin configuration before current is passed (FIG. 2A) and the state in which the spins rise up in the perpendicular direction resulting from interaction with conduction electrons (FIG. 2B), respectively. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration example of an inductor element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing typical examples of non-collinear spin structures according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, including a helical structure, a ferromagnetic spiral, a skewed spiral, and an anti-ferromagnetic skewed spiral. FIG. 5 is a SEM (scanning electron microscope) image of a sample inductor element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 6A and 6B are graphs showing the measurement results of inductor element sample 110 at 300 K, showing the dependence of the imaginary part of electrical resistivity Im(ρ) on an external magnetic field (FIG. 6A) and the frequency dependence of inductance in the absence of an external magnetic field (FIG. 6B). FIG. 7 is a graph showing the inductance vs. frequency characteristics measured at different temperatures for a sample of an inductor element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Below, with reference to the drawings, an embodiment of an inductor element according to the present disclosure will be described. Throughout all the drawings, common parts or elements are given common reference symbols unless otherwise specified in the description. Furthermore, in the drawings, the elements of each embodiment are not necessarily shown to scale.

1. Conventional inductor element and inductor element having non-collinear spin structure Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operating principle of a conventional inductor element. Figs. 2A and 2B are explanatory diagrams illustrating a helical spin structure, which is one of the non-collinear structures proposed in this embodiment, in which Fig. 2A shows the arrangement of ordered spins before current is passed, and Fig. 2B shows the rising of ordered spins in the z-axis direction (perpendicular to the surface). Fig. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the configuration of the inductor element of this embodiment.

により与えられる。ここで、Ｎは巻き数、ｌはコイルの長さである。従来のインダクター素子では、中心に鉄心などの大きな透磁率μをもつ物質を配置して磁束密度Ｂ＝μＨを増大させ、巻き数Ｎによって大きなインダクタンスを得ることができる。回路の微細化に伴い断面積Ｓやｌが微小であっても十分に大きなインダクタンスＬを得ることが要求されている。しかし、式（１）の最右辺に表れているように、単位長さ当たりの巻き数ｎが一定である場合、インダクタンスＬはインダクター素子の体積ｌＳに比例して小さくなってしまう。上述したように、製品化されている最小のサイズと高いインダクタンス値を示すものは、例えば、Ｌ＝１３０ｎＨ～２７０ｎＨ程度のインダクタンス値を得るために０．６×０．３×０．３ｍｍ^３のサイズを占める（非特許文献１）。従来の原理に基づく限り、さらなる微細化は困難である。 As shown in Figure 1, the most typical inductor element among conventional inductor elements is a coil. Its inductance L is:

Here, N is the number of turns, and l is the length of the coil. In conventional inductor elements, a material with a large magnetic permeability μ, such as an iron core, is placed in the center to increase the magnetic flux density B=μH, and a large inductance can be obtained by the number of turns N. As circuits become finer, it is required to obtain a sufficiently large inductance L even if the cross-sectional area S and l are small. However, as shown in the rightmost side of equation (1), when the number of turns n per unit length is constant, the inductance L becomes small in proportion to the volume lS of the inductor element. As mentioned above, the smallest size and high inductance value that has been commercialized occupies a size of 0.6×0.3×0.3 mm ³ to obtain an inductance value of about L=130nH to 270nH (Non-Patent Document 1). As long as it is based on conventional principles, further miniaturization is difficult.

In contrast, as shown in FIG. 2A, in the inductor element having a non-collinear spin structure of this embodiment, an arrangement of ordered electron spins (ordered spins), i.e., a spin structure, is used. The ordered spins are fixed at lattice points (atoms, etc.) not shown. At a certain time, the ordered spins at each position are oriented in a certain plane (xy plane), and when the orientation is traced in a direction perpendicular to the plane (the direction of the z axis), it rotates in the xy plane in proportion to the distance. Ordered spins that can have a spin structure are typically localized electron spins (localized spins) or conduction electron spins when the conduction electrons themselves create a magnetic order, and give a local magnetic moment. In general, the spin structure may have a parallel spin structure or an anti-parallel spin structure. The parallel spin structure and the anti-parallel spin structure are the origins of ferromagnetic order and antiferromagnetic order, respectively, and both are spatially uniform. A structure that is spatially uniform and either parallel or antiparallel, such as a parallel spin structure or an antiparallel spin structure, is also called a collinear spin structure. In contrast, it is known that a tilted spin structure in which nearby spins are neither parallel nor antiparallel can be realized in a material, and this is called a non-collinear spin structure. This non-collinear spin structure is involved in the operation of the inductor element of this embodiment.

The ordered spins in FIG. 2A are fixed at positions, for example, at lattice points (atoms, etc.) not shown. At a certain time, the ordered spins at each position are oriented in a certain plane (xy plane), and when the direction is traced in a direction perpendicular to the plane (the direction of the z axis), it rotates in the xy plane in proportion to the distance. When the direction of the spins goes around once in the direction of this helical axis with a positional period of 2λ, the wave number Q of the helical structure can be determined as Q = 2π/(2λ). Note that λ for half a turn is the distance required for the spin to be reversed, and corresponds to the thickness of the domain wall that separates two adjacent magnetic domains in the ferromagnetic order. The inventors have found that in an arrangement in which an alternating current that varies with time flows in the z-axis direction, which is the direction of the helical axis, a voltage drop occurs efficiently due to the emergent electric field. When such a current flows, the current itself also deforms due to interaction with the conduction electrons. A typical example of this is the deformation of the spin structure that occurs as a result of interaction with conduction electrons, as shown in Figure 2B; specifically, the rising of ordered spins in the z-axis direction (perpendicular to the plane). In conventional inductor elements, the action of storing energy as magnetic field energy appears as a voltage drop (Equation (1)), whereas in the inductor element of this embodiment, the deformation of the rising of the localized spins in the helical structure is responsible for storing energy. At that time, the conduction electrons that carry the current that caused the energy storage detect the voltage drop due to the emergent electric field.

The inductor element 10 shown in FIG. 3 includes a metallic medium 2 having a non-collinear spin structure therein. If the spin structure is a helical structure, the contour of the metallic medium 2 is most typically designed to extend along the z-axis (FIG. 2A) so that a current is conducted along the z-axis, which is the direction of the wave number Q of the helical structure. A current I is passed through the metallic medium 2 in the direction of its extension. As a result, the current I generates an emergent electric field for the ordered spins of the helical structure (more generally, the non-collinear spin structure), which is detected by the conduction electrons carrying the current I. More generally, the direction of the current I is any direction in which an emergent electric field can be generated from the current by the non-collinear spin structure. For example, in a case where the localized spins are spatially oriented to have a non-collinear spin structure when traced in a certain direction (z-axis direction in FIG. 3), the contour of the metallic medium 2 is formed so that the current flowing therethrough has a component projected in the direction of the z-axis that gives the non-collinear spin structure. FIG. 3 illustrates, as an example, the configuration of an inductor element 10 that employs a metallic medium 2 having a non-collinear spin structure of a helical structure as shown in FIG. 2. Although the arrows indicating the direction of the spin as shown in FIG. 2 are not shown, a representation of a disk 4 containing spin is illustrated. The metallic medium 2 has at least a local cross-sectional area S and a length l, and a current I is passed across the cross-sectional area over the length l. Since the inductor element 10 is generally connected to an electric circuit, the current I is the current passed through the inductor element 10 by the electric circuit. Note that, although the metallic medium 2 is depicted as a rectangular parallelepiped in FIG. 3, it can have any shape or form as long as the above relationship with the non-collinear spin structure is satisfied, and can be, for example, a thin film, a film, or a wiring, or can have any other pattern or external shape.

との関係を見いだした。ただし、ｈ－ｂａｒはプランク定数を２πで割った値、ｌは長さ、ｅは電荷素量、λはスピンの向きが一周する周期の１／２、Ｓは断面積である。つまり、インダクター素子のインダクタンスＬの値は、

となって、従来と全く異なるサイズに関するスケーリング則を示す。断面積Ｓに対するインダクタンス値の依存性をみると、従来は式（１）に示したようにＬがＳに比例しているのに対し、本実施形態のインダクター素子では式（３）に表れているようにＬがＳに反比例している。つまり、本実施形態の原理で動作するインダクター素子は、断面積Ｓを小さくすることでＬを増大できる、という素子の微細化に対し極めて好ましい性質を生まれながらに備えている。この性質は、らせん構造のみならず、他の非共線スピン構造においても同様である。 The inventors calculated the inductance that the inductor element 10 can have by estimating the degree of deformation that occurs in the spin structure due to the interaction between the conduction electrons and the spin structure (Patent Document 1).

Here, h-bar is the Planck constant divided by 2π, l is the length, e is the elementary charge, λ is half the period of one revolution of the spin direction, and S is the cross-sectional area. In other words, the value of the inductance L of an inductor element is

which shows a scaling law regarding size that is completely different from the conventional one. Looking at the dependency of the inductance value on the cross-sectional area S, whereas in the conventional case, L is proportional to S as shown in formula (1), in the inductor element of this embodiment, L is inversely proportional to S as shown in formula (3). In other words, the inductor element that operates according to the principle of this embodiment is inherently endowed with a property that is extremely favorable for miniaturization of elements, that is, L can be increased by reducing the cross-sectional area S. This property is true not only for the helical structure, but also for other non-collinear spin structures.

2. Materials with non-collinear spin structures The present inventors have already disclosed that _{Gd3Ru4Al 12} is a promising material for realizing the inductor element 10 of this embodiment (Non-Patent Document 2). However, its operating temperature range is below 20K, and there is a demand for a _metallic medium 2 that can be used in the inductor element 10 in a more practical temperature range.

In this embodiment, generally, a material having a non-collinear spin structure can be used. The non-collinear spin structure is a spin structure of localized spins that is modulated from the ferromagnetic order by spin-orbit interaction, such as the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, and is selected from the above-mentioned structures, such as the helical structure. Such a material can typically be selected from alloys containing transition metals. It is also possible to use a material that realizes a non-collinear spin structure between localized spins as a result of the RKKY interaction, which is a generation mechanism other than the spin-orbit interaction. Furthermore, a non-collinear spin structure can also be realized between localized spins by magnetic frustration, and a material suitable for the inductor element of this embodiment can be selected from such a group of materials.

Therefore, the present inventors have intensively searched for materials that can have a non-collinear spin structure, and have found that, in addition to Gd ₃ Ru ₄ Al ₁₂ , a manganese compound, a metal medium given by the composition formula RMn ₆ X _6, is promising as the metal medium 2 for the inductor element 100. Here, R is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Mg (magnesium), Sc (scandium), Y (yttrium), Zr (zirconium), Gd (gadolinium), Tb (terbium), Dy (dysprosium), Ho (holmium), Er (erbium), Tm (thulium), Lu (lutetium), and Hf (haunium), and X is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Sn (tin) and Ge (germanium). Table 1 shows these composition formulas. Table 2 also shows typical spin structures for each material. However, the spin structures shown in Table 2 are non-limiting, showing typical magnetic orders at different temperatures with an external magnetic field of 0. For example, even if something is described as collinear, it may have a non-collinear spin structure under different conditions.

Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing typical examples of non-collinear spin structures in this embodiment, showing typical spiral structures, ferromagnetic spiral, skewed spiral, and anti-ferromagnetic skewed spiral. Here, the arrows indicate the orientation of spins when a non-collinear spin structure is formed with respect to the c-axis among the crystal axes (a-axis, b-axis, c-axis) in a typical material. In addition to these, various non-collinear spin structures such as distorted spiral, cycloidal structure, and fan structure have been reported, and any of these can be adopted for the inductor element of this embodiment.

3. Examples As examples of this embodiment, the properties corresponding to the inductance characteristics were investigated for the above-mentioned material group, particularly for YMn ₆ Sn _6. Note that YMn ₆ Sn ₆ has a composition formula of RMn ₆ X ₆ , where R is Y and X is Sn.

YMn ₆ Sn ₆ has been investigated and has a crystal structure with symmetry of space group P6/mmm, that is, a MgFe ₆ Ge ₆ type crystal structure, in which the magnetic element Mn forms a kagome lattice (Non-Patent Document 3). In addition, Non-Patent Document 3 also reports a phase diagram of the magnetic order (spin structure) of YMn ₆ Sn ₆ with respect to external magnetic field and temperature, and suggests that it may have a high Neel temperature T _N of about 333 K, i.e., about 60° C., in an external magnetic field of nearly zero used for an inductor element. In addition, in an external magnetic field near zero, YMn ₆ Sn ₆ exhibits a magnetic order called distorted spiral (DS) (Non-Patent Document 3, Non-Patent Document 4). This is an order in which the magnetic moment due to the spin of the bound 3d electrons of Mn becomes distorted from a simple spiral as it progresses along the c-axis of the crystal, and is an example of a non-collinear spin structure. The inventors anticipated that this material, which has a high Neel temperature T _N , would be suitable for implementing the inductor element of this embodiment, and prepared crystals to investigate the voltage-current characteristics in detail.

FIG. 5 is a SEM (scanning electron microscope) image of a sample of the inductor element 10 in this embodiment. In the inductor element sample 110, YMn ₆ Sn ₆ was formed into a rectangular parallelepiped with a thickness of 4.8 μm, a width of 9.3 μm, and a length of 37.2 μm to form the metal medium 102. The distance between the electrodes was 25.0 μm due to the terminal width of the voltage terminal. Specifically, a rectangular YMn ₆ Sn ₆ was formed on a silicon substrate by a microsampling method using a focused ion beam. Furthermore, electrodes 114 to 128 made of tungsten were formed on both short sides (full width) and both long sides (positions where the distance between the electrodes is 6.5 μm on each side) of the metal medium 102. Gold thin film wiring 134, 136, 142, 144, 146, and 148 for connection to an external circuit are connected to each electrode. Specifically, the gold thin film wirings 134, 136, 142, 144, 146, and 148 were formed by electron beam deposition and patterned by UV lithography and lift-off. The electrodes 114 to 128 were formed by focused ion beam assisted deposition so as to connect the gold thin film wirings 134, 136, 142, 144, 146, and 148 to the metal medium 102. The electrodes on the short sides are the drive electrodes 114 and 116 that pass a current through the inductor element sample 110, and the electrodes on the long sides are the probe electrodes 122, 124, 126, and 128 for measuring the voltage drop in the longitudinal direction.

The measurement subject is the voltage drop between probe electrodes 122 and 124, or between probe electrodes 126 and 128, when an AC current is applied between drive electrodes 114 and 116. The voltage drop is measured as the component with the same frequency as that of the applied AC current. The measurement value is converted to complex resistivity (complex volume resistivity) ρ based on the shape of the metal medium 102.

6A and 6B are graphs showing the measurement results of the inductor element sample 110 at 300K, showing the dependence of the complex resistivity ρ at a frequency of 500 Hz on the external magnetic field perpendicular to the c-axis (FIG. 6A) and the frequency dependence of the inductance L in the absence of an external magnetic field (magnetic flux density 0 T) (FIG. 6B). FIG. 6A shows measurements at a temperature of 300K and an applied current of 11 mA (current density 2.5×10 ⁸ A/m ² ). First, in an environment with a strong external magnetic field, the imaginary component of the complex resistivity ρ does not occur. When the external magnetic field weakens to a level where it has a magnetic flux density of about 4 T in absolute value, the imaginary component begins to occur, and when the magnetic flux density has an absolute value of about 4 T to 1.5 T, it has a positive imaginary component. Then, the imaginary component suddenly decreases and becomes negative when the external magnetic field has a magnetic flux density of about 1.5 T in absolute value, and has a negative value near 0 T. The behavior in a strong external magnetic field is consistent with the report in Non-Patent Document 3 that at a temperature of 300K, in a strong external magnetic field, all magnetic moments are aligned in the direction of the external magnetic field, resulting in a forced ferromagnetic order (FF), and that as the magnetic field is weakened, the magnetic order transitions to a transverse conical spiral (TCL) structure and then to a DS structure. Furthermore, since the spin structure of the FF is parallel, it is a collinear spin structure, and the inventor's analysis shows that it has no inductance. This is shown in FIG. 6A, where the imaginary component of the electrical resistivity ρ is 0. In contrast, the magnetic orders of the TCL and DS are non-collinear spin structures, and the imaginary component of the complex resistivity ρ is non-zero, which also coincides with the inventor's analysis.

6B shows the frequency characteristics of inductance measured when there is no external magnetic field (magnetic flux density 0 T) and an applied current of 16 mA (current density 3.3×10 ⁸ A/m ² ). In fact, inductance L is actually observed in the low frequency region with an upper limit of about 10 kHz. The inductance value is about -2 μH at 105 Hz.

7 shows the frequency characteristics of inductance measured at inductor element sample 110 while changing the temperature from 10K to 350K, and the measurement results at each temperature are shown normalized by the inductance at 105Hz at that temperature. In each curve, the inductance decreases monotonically as the frequency increases on the high frequency side above about 1kHz. However, at low temperatures of about 10K and 20K, the decrease in inductance with increasing frequency is more gradual than at temperatures higher than those temperatures. However, inductance was observed up to a high temperature of about _350K . In this way, it was demonstrated that in the _YMn6Sn6 sample, inductance occurs at temperatures above 300K.

The size and mass of the inductor element sample 110 are extremely small. The effective volume of the metal medium 102 of the sample, taking into account the distance between the electrodes, is given by:
4.8 μm x 9.3 μm x 25.0 μm = 11 x 10 ^-7 mm ³
and its mass is 890 ngrams, or less than 0.000001 g. At this size, an inductance of approximately -2 μH is obtained. Inductor element sample 110 is four orders of magnitude smaller than the minimum size product (0.6×0.3×0.3 mm ³ =54×10 ^-3 mm ³ ) of the prior art, and achieves an inductance value that is ten times larger.

4. Use of Confirmed Inductance The negative inductance actually measured in this embodiment is suitable for applications in which the frequency characteristics of a circuit are adjusted to the desired characteristics. Conventionally, when parasitic inductance occurs in a circuit, the parasitic inductance component is directly cancelled by a capacitance that has an opposite sign in the imaginary component of the impedance. In contrast, in this embodiment, by adopting conditions that realize the measured negative inductance, a negative inductance that has an opposite sign to the parasitic inductance can be realized. This makes it possible to cancel the positive parasitic inductance component.

5. Equipment The present disclosure also includes equipment that includes an electric/electronic circuit including the inductor element described above. The inductor element of the above-mentioned embodiment can be used as a basic element for general electric/electronic circuits including, for example, a resonant circuit and a filter circuit. The inductor element described above can be applied in principle to any device, including, but not limited to, general electric/electronic devices including these electronic circuits, and includes electric/electronic devices, communication devices, audio/visual devices, and medical electronic devices, whether for industrial or home use. The inductor element provided in the present disclosure can be manufactured to be lightweight and compact, and therefore can also be applied to hearing aids, cardiac pacemakers, and MEMS (microelectromechanical systems).

The above describes the embodiments of the present disclosure in detail. The above-mentioned embodiments, modifications, and examples are described in order to explain the invention disclosed in this disclosure, and the scope of the invention of this disclosure should be determined based on the description of the claims. Modifications that exist within the scope of this disclosure, including other combinations of the embodiments, are also included in the claims.

The contents of International Application No. PCT/JP2019/030236 (International Publication No. 2020/027268) and its priority application, Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-145483, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety as part of the disclosure of this application.

This disclosure can be used in any device that includes an inductor element in its circuit.

10 inductor element 2 metallic medium 4 disk (exhibiting non-collinear spin structure)
110 Inductor element sample 102 Metal medium 114, 116, 122, 124, 126, 128 Electrodes 134, 136, 142, 144, 146, 148 Gold thin film wiring

Claims (4)

A metallic medium having a composition of formula _RMn6X6 in _which ordered spins are spatially oriented to have a non-collinear spin structure when traced in a direction, wherein:
R is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Mg, Sc, Y, Zr, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Lu, and Hf;
X is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Sn and Ge;
An inductor element in which a current is caused to flow through said metallic medium such that the current has a projected component in said direction. The inductor element of claim 1, wherein R is Y and X is Sn. The inductor element of claim 1, wherein the metallic medium exhibits negative inductance. A device including an inductor element according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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