Exchange coupling in CoO–Co bilayer

In this work, exchange bias and coercivity enhancement in ferromagnet (FM)–antiferromagnet (AFM) bilayer have been investigated. CoO film (50 nm) was deposited by sputtering with a relatively high oxygen partial pressure. The deposited films were subsequently annealed at varied temperature up to 973 K in the air atmosphere. The CoO film shows a disordered structure in the as-deposited state and an increase of crystallinity after annealing characterized by XRD and Raman spectra. A 40-nm Co film was deposited on the as-deposited CoO and annealed films. The Co–CoO bilayer shows a large exchange bias up to 1600 Oe and relatively high coercivity up to 3200 Oe (H_C−) at 5 K, which is much larger than that of crystalline Co–CoO bilayer films without any treatment. The spin glass behavior combined with increasing crystallinity, surface roughness of CoO after annealing may be attributed to the large exchange bias and high coercivity.     

The preparation and evaluation of graded multilayer ta-C films deposited by FCVA method

In this study, a series of graded multilayer ta-C films were investigated by varying their sublayer thickness ratios, in which each film sublayer was prepared at different substrate bias by filtered cathode vacuum arc (FCVA) method. The experimental results show that the graded multilayer film structure can effectively decrease the internal stress level of deposited ta-C film, and meanwhile the graded multilayer ta-C films still have high sp³ fractions. The applied substrate bias voltage and sublayer thickness ratio can apparently influence the microstructure characteristics and internal stress of the graded multilayer ta-C films. The graded multilayer ta-C film has larger sp³ fraction when applying a larger negative substrate bias voltage and having a thicker outer sublayer during the film deposition process. However, the internal stress in the as-deposited film also increases with larger thickness of the outer sublayer, and the optimal ratio of sublayer thicknesses is 1:1:1:1 for graded ta-C film with four sublayers.     

Magnetic multilayers on nanosphere arrays with various curvature radius

[Co/Pt]_n multilayers with different Co thickness have been deposited on a silicon (Si) substrate to obtain better perpendicular anisotropy. The 0.5 nm thickness of the Co layer was chosen as the optimized thickness of the multilayer. Magnetic nanostructures with cap configuration were fabricated based on the template of polystyrene (PS) colloid sphere arrays with various curvature radius. Compared to the flat multilayer, the cap multilayer showed an oblique average anisotropy axis. When the curvature radius of the colloidal sphere increased, the shape of the multilayers changed from ellipsoidal to spherical, which led to a different dependence of magnetic properties on the field angles. The varying shape anisotropy, the dipole-dipole interaction between small magnetic caps, and the special nucleation mechanism on the spheres larger than 400 nm caused the M_r/M_s ratio and the coercivity to first increase and then decrease with varying curvature radius of the PS spheres.     

Experimental magnetic study and evidence of the exchange bias effect in unidimensional Co arrays produced by interference lithography

A simple process for fabricating submicrometric magnetic arrays employing interference lithography, sputtering deposition and lift-off processes is proposed and demonstrated. The magnetic properties of cobalt (Co) arrays were measured and compared with those of a continuous Co magnetic film. The results show a dependence of the hysteresis curve on the orientation of the field as regards the array, which is correlated with the anisotropy of the structures and a dependence of the coercive field on the periodicity of the arrays. Moreover, an exchange bias effect was observed, which is ascribed to a ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic (FM/AFM) coupling between Co and a thin surface cobalt oxide (CoO) layer.     

具有垂直各向异性(Pt/Co)n/FeMn多层膜的交换偏置

采用磁控溅射方法制备了以Pt为缓冲层和保护层的具有垂直各向异性(Pt/Co)_n/ FeMn多层膜.研究结果表明，多层膜的垂直交换偏置场H_ex和反铁磁层厚度的关 系与其具有平面各向异性的交换偏置场随反铁磁层厚度变化趋势相近.随着铁磁层调制周期 数的增加，垂直交换偏置场H_ex相应减小，并且与铁磁层的调制周期数近似成反 比关系.(Pt/Co)₃/FeMn的垂直交换偏置场H_ex已经达到22.3kA/m.为 关键词： 交换偏置 垂直各向异性 多层膜     

Ordered magnetic multilayer nanobowl array by nanosphere template method

Ordered magnetic multilayer [Co/Pt]_n nanobowls have been fabricated over a silicon substrate based on a polystyrene (PS) monolayer film. The ordered PS monolayer was first prepared by the self-assembly technique, which was used as the template for the multilayer film [Co/Pt]_n deposition. The ordered magnetic multilayer [Co/Pt]_n nanobowl array was obtained after the transferring and the selective etching process. The nanobowls show a uniform size and smooth surfaces. The nanobowls stuck to the neighbors and notches were observed in the bowl brims because of the contact points between the closed-packed PS beads. The nanobowls could be separated from their neighbors by thinning the PS beads before the film deposition and no notches were observed anymore. Compared to the chemical method, this method showed more flexible choices of the material to fabricate the nanobowls, which extended the application scope of the nanobowls greatly.     

Investigation of ferromagnetic coupling between Co layers in a Co/Pt multilayer with perpendicular anisotropy

The coercivity of a Co/Pt multilayer with out-of-plane anisotropy can be lowered greatly if it is grown onto an ultrathin NiO underlayer . By making use of this characteristic, a series of samples glass/NiO(10 Å)/[Co(4 Å)/Pt(5 Å)]₃/Pt(x Å)/[Co(4 Å)/Pt(5 Å)]₃ with different Pt spacer thickness have been prepared to determine the ferromagnetic (FM) coupling between Co layers across the Pt layer. The measurements of major and minor hysteresis loops have shown that the FM coupling between the top and bottom Co/Pt multilayers decreases monotonically with the Pt layer thickness and disappears above the Pt layer thickness of 40 Å. This thickness of 40 Å is much larger than that in the literature. In addition to the FM coupling between the top and bottom Co/Pt multilayers across the Pt spacer, there exists a weak biquadratic coupling, which induces the broad transition of the bottom Co/Pt multilayer.     

Magnetization reversal in exchange biased Co/CoO patterns

The influence of patterning on exchange bias has been investigated using arrays of micron-sized Co/CoO dots with different lateral confinement and length-to-width ratio. The patterned samples show higher coercive and exchange bias fields than a continuous Co/CoO bilayer. As in unpatterned film, magnetization reversal mechanisms on opposite sides of the hysteresis loops of the microstructured samples are different. However, with the increase of lateral confinement and shape anisotropy of the dots, the asymmetry in the magnetization reversal starts to differ from that observed in continuous Co/CoO films.     

Theoretical investigation of exchange bias

The exchange bias of bilayer magnetic films consisting of ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) layers in an uncompensated case is studied by use of the many-body Green's function method of quantum statistical theory. The effects of the layer thickness and temperature and the interfacial coupling strength on the exchange bias H_E are investigated. The dependence of the exchange bias H_E on the FM layer thickness and temperature is qualitatively in agreement with experimental results. When temperature varies, both the coercivity H_C and H_E decrease with the temperature increasing. For each FM thickness, there exists a least AFM thickness in which the exchange bias occurs, which is called pinning thickness.     

单晶Si表面离子束溅射沉积Co纳米薄膜的研究

采用离子束溅射沉积法，在单晶Si基片上制备了不同厚度(1—100nm)的Co纳米薄膜.利用原子力显微镜、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)仪和X射线衍射仪对不同厚度的Co纳米薄膜进行了分析和研究.结果表明：当薄膜厚度为1—10nm时，沉积颗粒形态随薄膜厚度增加将由二维生长的细长胞状过渡到多个颗粒聚集成的球状.当膜厚大于10nm时，小颗粒球聚集成大颗粒球，颗粒球呈现三维生长状态.表面粗糙度随膜厚的增加呈现先增加后减小的趋势，在膜厚为3nm时出现极值.XPS全程宽扫描和窄扫描显示：薄膜表面的元素成分为Co，化学态分别 关键词： 离子束沉积 纳米薄膜 X射线光电子能谱 X射线衍射     

Nanogaps in 2D Ag‐nanocap arrays for surface‐enhanced Raman scattering

The surface‐enhanced Raman scattering substrate of Ag–Ag nanocap arrays are prepared by depositing Ag film onto two‐dimensional (2D) polystyrene colloidal nanosphere templates. When the original colloidal arrays are used as the substrate for Ag deposition, surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancements show the strong size‐dependence behaviours. When O₂‐plasma etched 2D polystyrene templates are used as the substrate for Ag deposition to form nanogaps, the gap sizes between adjacent Ag nanocaps from 5 to 20 nm generate even greater SERS enhancements. When SiO₂ coverage is deposited to isolate the Ag nanocaps from the neighbours, the SERS signals are enhanced more. The significant SERS effects are due to the coupling between Ag nanocaps controlled by the distance, which enhances the local electric‐field intensity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A study of the induced magnetism in the Au spacer layer of Co/Au/CoO exchange-bias trilayers and related systems

We report the first observation of the effects of exchange bias on the nuclear spin polarization and induced magnetic moments at a magnetic/non-magnetic interface, applying low temperature nuclear orientation (LTNO) to Co/Au(x)/CoO trilayer systems. This technique allows us to determine simultaneously the average alignment of the nuclear moments for the two radioactive probe isotopes 198Au and 60Co with respect to an external magnetic field axis. The total average Au γ-ray anisotropy measured was found (i) to decrease with increasing Au thickness, indicating that large hyperfine fields are restricted to the interfacial Au layers and (ii) to be canted away from the applied field axis even when the Co layers are magnetically saturated. This canting was found to originate at the CoO/Au interface as could be shown from comparative measurements on CoO/Au/CoO trilayers containing two AFM CoO/Au interfaces and on a Co/Au/Co trilayer with two FM Co/Au interfaces. In the case of CoO/Au/CoO, the observed canting was found to be dependent on the Au layer thickness.     

Synthesis of bismuth nanocap arrays on quartz substrates and their surface plasmon resonance properties

Bismuth nanocap arrays have been prepared by vacuum depositing Bi films onto the surfaces of self-assembled monolayer arrays of SiO₂ nanoparticles. The surface morphologies, structures, and optical properties of the obtained samples have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and ultraviolet–visible–near infrared (UV–vis–NIR) spectrophotometer. TEM and AFM images indicated that the SiO₂/Bi composite nanoparticles were incompletely encapsulated and their surfaces were relatively rough. UV–vis–NIR absorption spectra showed that Bi nanocap arrays had strong and tunable surface plasmon resonance peaks in the visible and near infrared regions, which were dependent dramatically on the relative ratio of the SiO₂ core diameter to the Bi cap thickness.     

Influence of layer thickness on the structure and the magnetic properties of Co/Pd epitaxial multilayer films

Co/Pd epitaxial multilayer films were prepared on Pd(111)_fcc underlayers hetero-epitaxially grown on MgO(111)_B1 single-crystal substrates at room temperature by ultra-high vacuum RF magnetron sputtering. In-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction shows that the in-plane lattice spacing of Co on Pd layer gradually decreases with increasing the Co layer thickness, whereas that of Pd on Co layer remains unchanged during the Pd layer formation. The CoPd alloy phase formation is observed around the Co/Pd interface. The atomic mixing is enhanced for thinner Co and Pd layers in multilayer structure. With decreasing the Co and the Pd layer thicknesses and increasing the repetition number of Co/Pd multilayer film, stronger perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is observed. The relationships between the film structure and the magnetic properties are discussed.     

Tailoring exchange bias by oxidizing Co film across a Cu wedge in Cu(wedge)/CoO/Co/Cu(0 0 1)

A new method was developed to control Co film oxidation in an epitaxially grown Cu(wedge)/Co/Cu(0 0 1) film. By annealing the film at 200 °C within 10⁻⁶ Torr oxygen environment, we find that the top Cu wedge controls the Co underlayer oxidation continuously as a function of the Cu film thickness. Magneto-Optic Kerr Effect measurement shows that the exchange bias of the resulting CoO/Co film exhibits a systematic variation with the Cu thickness, thus offering a new method of tailoring the exchange bias of CoO/Co films.     

Optical inhomogeneity model for evaporated Y2O3 obtained from physical thickness measurement

A multiparameter fitting with additional parameters for film inhomogeneity based on transmission results is used to get film inhomogeneity information and to compare different models for film structure. For a number of evaporated materials similar results from transmission fitting have been obtained by using a model consisting of two sublayers with a constant difference in refractive indices between them, either with a thin sublayer in the contact with a substrate or with air. As additional information, we obtained the film physical thickness result from step profile measurements for an oxygen-doped Y₂O₃ film on a fused silica and we compared it with the fit results for this coating. The result closest to the profilometry one has been achieved for a model with a thinner sublayer in contact with the substrate. The differences are great enough to assert that Y₂O₃ films on a fused silica possess a higher refractive index in the first stages of growth and then, after some transition, the main material with smaller refractive index grows on it.     

Formations and morphological stabilities of ultrathin CoSi2 films

In this paper we investigate the formations and morphological stabilities of Co-silicide fihns using 1-8-nm thick Co layers sputter-deposited on silicon （100） substrates. These ultrathin Co-silicide films are formed via solid-state reaction of the deposited Co films with Si substrate at annealing temperatures from 450 ℃ to 850 ℃. For a Co layer with a thickness no larger than i nm, epitaxially aligned CoSi2 films readily grow on silicon （100） substrate and exhibit good morphological stabilities up to 600 ℃. For a Co layer thicker than 1 nm, polycrystalline CoSi and CoSi2 films are observed. The critical thickness below which epitaxially aligned CoSi2 film prevails is smaller than the reported critical thickness of the Ni layer for epitaxial alignment of NiSi2 on silicon （100） substrate. The larger lattice mismatch between the CoSi2 film and the silicon substrate is the root cause for the smaller critical thickness of the Co layer.     

Magnetization and spin echo studies in compositionally modulated CoNb and Co films

The ⁵⁹Co spin echo signal frequency of a compositionally modulated CoNb sample with Co sublayer as thin as 14 Å is the same as that of a Co film but the low frequency tail becomes more pronounced as this thickness decreases. Increasing Nb layer thickness reduces the signal intensity.     

Structural and magnetic properties of Co-C composite films and Co/C multilayer films

CoC composite films and Co/C multilayer films have been prepared by a method incorporating ion beam sputtering and plasma chemical vapor deposition. It has been found that the structure and magnetic properties of both the Co-C composite and the Co/C multilayer films depend strongly on the substrate temperature during deposition. The Co-C composite film deposited at room temperature is amorphous, with relatively low saturation magnetization and coercivity. On the other hand, the film deposited at 250 °C is composed of fine Co crystallites separated by amorphous C or Co-C phase. As a result, both the saturation magnetization and coercivity are increased compared with the film deposited at room temperature. When deposited at room temperature, the Co/C multilayer film exhibits good periodicity, with a period of 70 nm (Co: 40 nm, C: 30 nm) and sharp and flat Co-C interfaces. High magnetization (602 emu/cm³) and low coercivity (1.6 Oe) are obtained for such a film. However, increasing the substrate temperature to 250 °C was found to be detrimental to the magnetic properties due to the formation of cobalt carbide at the Co-C interface. Received: 11 July 2000 / Accepted: 13 July 2000 / Published online: 30 November 2000     

Self-assembly of arrays of micro-rings by colloidal evaporative deposition

We describe self-assembly of arrays of micro-rings in a drying process of a mixture of H₂O and C₂H₅OH (1:1) and trace amounts of NH₄OH with suspended SiO₂ nano-particles of 102.5 nm average diameter. A drop of 2 mm diameter of the colloid is placed on a nearly vertical SiO₂ substrate. A drop spills down and spreads into a wedge-shape thin film. Initially, the colloid wets the substrate. Due to different evaporation rates of solvent components the wettability of the colloid changes. The content of alcohol decreases and the liquid mixture does not wet the substrate any more. The colloidal thin film brakes into rhomboidal segments, which aggregate into a regular lattice of droplets. Each droplet evaporates and forms a micro-ring of about 80 μm in diameter. The micro-rings self-assemble into a rhomboid array with lattice constant ratio of 1:0.9.