Angular and NiFe thickness dependence of exchange bias in IrMn/NiFe/IrMn thin film

Exchange biased IrMn/NiFe/IrMn thin films were studied as a function of NiFe thickness. In plane angular dependence of a resonance field distribution which is measured by FMR was analyzed as a combined effect of an unidirectional anisotropy and an uniaxial anisotropy. The unidirectional anisotropic field and the uniaxial anisotropic field were linearly varied with NiFe thickness while the films with a thicker NiFe layer do not follow the linear variation. Resonance field and linewidth variations were also analysed with NiFe thickness.     

Thickness dependence of positive exchange bias in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayers

For the ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) bilayers, both negative and positive exchange bias H_E have been observed for low and high cooling field H_CF, respectively. The thickness dependence of H_E and coercivity H_C have been investigated for the cases of negative and positive H_E. It is found that the negative H_E and the positive one have similar FM thickness dependence that is attributed to the interfacial nature of exchange bias. However, the AFM thickness dependence of positive H_E is completely contrary to that of the negative one, which clearly demonstrates that the AFM spins play different roles for the cases of positive and negative H_E. In particular, the AFM thickness of positive H_E was first highlighted by an AFM spin canting model. These results should be attributed to the interfacial spin configuration after field cooling procedure.     

Spin-flop coupling and exchange anisotropy in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayers

By investigating the antiferromagnetic spin configuration, the exchange anisotropy and the interfacial spin-flop coupling in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic (FM/AF) bilayers have been discussed in detail. The results show that there are four possible cases for the AF spins, namely the reversible recovering case, irreversible half-rotating case, irreversible reversing and irreversible half-reversing cases. Moreover, the realization of the cases strongly depends on interface quadratic coupling, interface spin-flop (biquadratic) coupling and AF thickness. The magnetic phase diagram in terms of the AF thickness t_AF, the interfacial bilinear coupling J₁ and the spin-flop coupling J₂ has been constructed. The corresponding critical parameters in which the exchange bias will occur or approach saturation have been also presented. Specially, the small spin-flop exchange coupling may result in an exchange bias without the interfacial bilinear exchange coupling. However, in general, the spin-flop exchange coupling can weaken or eliminate the exchange bias, but always enhances the coercivity greatly.     

Co/Ni多层膜垂直磁各向异性的研究

采用直流磁控溅射法在玻璃基片上制备了Pt底层的Co/Ni多层膜样品, 对影响样品垂直磁各向异性的各因素进行了调制, 通过样品的反常霍尔效应系统的研究了Co/Ni多层膜的垂直磁各向异性. 结果表明, 多层膜中各层的厚度及周期数对样品的反常霍尔效应和磁性有重要的影响. 通过对多层膜各个参数的调制优化, 最终获得了具有良好的垂直磁各向异性的Co/Ni多层膜最佳样品Pt(2.0)/Co(0.2)/Ni(0.4)/Co(0.2)/Pt(2.0), 经计算, 该样品的各向异性常数K_eff 达到了3.6×10⁵ J/m³, 说明样品具备良好的垂直磁各向异性. 最佳样品磁性层厚度仅为0.8 nm, 样品总厚度在5 nm以内, 可更为深入的研究其与元件的集成性.     

Planar Hall effect in biosensor with a tilted angle of the cross-junction

A typical planar Hall effect (PHE) sensor junction consists of two Hall bars that the bars appear normal to each other and the junction can have the required four terminals for current and voltage measurements. We are now introducing a tilted angle of the cross-junction and studying the role of the PHE therein. The results show that although there is a tilted angle of the cross-junction, the PHE voltage is remained constant. The result is interpreted by assuming the sensor material with the behavior of a basic single domain structure under the external magnetic field reversals. The calculations of the model are found to be in good concurrence with the experimental results.     

Effects of Cu dilution in IrMn on the exchange bias of CoFe/IrMn bilayers

The effect of nonmagnetic dilution in metallic antiferromagnets (AFMs) on the exchange bias (EB) has been investigated from a structural, magnetic, and Monte Carlo simulation point of view in bilayers of CoFe/(IrMn)1-xCux. Dilution by Cu atoms throughout the volume of the AFM IrMn gives rise to an enhanced EB field (HEB) for 5 K相似文献   

In-plane magnetic pattern separation in NiFe/NiO and Co/NiO exchange biased bilayers investigated by magnetic force microscopy

Ion bombardment induced magnetic patterning (IBMP) was used to write in-plane magnetized micro and submicron patterns in exchange biased magnetic bilayers, where the magnetization directions of the adjacent patterns are antiparallel to each other in remanence. These magnetic patterns were investigated by non-contact magnetic force microscopy (MFM). It is shown that the recorded MFM images of the IBMP patterns in two exemplarily chosen standard layer systems (NiFe (4.8 nm)/NiO (68 nm) and Co (4.8 nm)/NiO (68 nm)) can be well described by a model within the point-dipole approximation for the tip magnetization. For 5 and 0.9 μm wide bar patterns the domain wall widths between adjacent magnetically patterned areas were determined to a≈1 μm. The minimum magnetically stable pattern width was estimated to be 0.7 μm in the standard system Co (4.8 nm)/NiO (68 nm).     

Relative-thickness dependence of exchange bias in bilayers and trilayers

We consider the models of ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) bilayers and trilayers and perform a modified Monte Carlo method to study their exchange bias (EB) properties at low temperature after field cooling on increasing one component thickness at the expense of the other one. The results indicate that EB is insensitive to the thickness variations as the FM layer is thicker than the AFM one. Otherwise, it has a steep increase with the decrease of FM thickness, but the purely inverse proportion is no longer valid due to the dual influences of FM and AFM thicknesses. EB in trilayers should be approximately twice larger than that in bilayers because there is a double interfacial area in the trilayers compared with the bilayers, but the dispersed FM/AFM distributions may break this relation as a result of thermal destabilization. Moreover, EB is independent of FM/AFM stacking sequences probably because of the ideal interface between them. It has been clarified unambiguously that such control of EB through varying the FM/AFM dimensions in heterostructures is attractive for spintronics applications.     

Domain wall nucleation in epitaxial exchange-biased Fe/IrMn bilayers with highly misaligned anisotropies

The angular dependence of the magnetization reversal in epitaxial Fe/IrMn bilayers with collinear and non-collinear cubic and unidirectional anisotropies is investigated. Multistep loops with different magnetization reversal processes are observed for either positive or negative angles with respect to the Fe easy axis. The angular dependence of the switching fields displays the broken symmetry of the induced non-collinearity. The experimental results are reproduced with a generalized domain wall nucleation model that includes the induced anisotropy configuration and the peculiar asymmetric magnetic switching behavior. These results highlight the importance of the relative angle between anisotropies in epitaxial exchange bias systems with incoherent rotation reversal mechanism, opening a new pathway for tailoring the magnetic properties of such systems.     

Large planar Hall effect in perpendicularly magnetized W/CoFeB/MgO structures

The planar Hall effect (PHE) in W/CoFeB/MgO structure with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy was investigated as a function of CoFeB thickness (t_CoFeB). The PHE is measured by sweeping the in-plane magnetic field at various azimuthal angles as well as by rotating strong magnetic field which is enough to saturate the magnetization. We observed a huge PHE in the W/CoFeB/MgO sample, which is even larger than anomalous Hall effect (AHE). This is distinct from the results in Ta/CoFeB/MgO samples showing a much smaller PHE than AHE. Since the PHE is insensitive to the t_CoFeB while the AHE is proportional to the t_CoFeB, the unprecedented PHE can be attributed to the W layer with a large spin-orbit coupling.     

Thickness dependence of the anomalous Hall effect in disordered face-centered cubic FePt alloy films

The anomalous Hall effect in disordered face-centered cubic(fcc) FePt alloy films is experimentally studied. The longitudinal resistivity independent term of the anomalous Hall conductivity(AHC) increases and approaches saturation with increasing film thickness. The contribution of side jump scattering is suggested to decrease monotonically with increasing film thickness, which can be ascribed to the variation of the surface scattering with the film thickness. The sign of the skew scattering contribution to the AHC is opposite to that of the intrinsic contribution in the system.     

Microscopic domain structures in unidirectional and isotropic exchange-coupled NiO/NiFe bilayers

The dependence on nickel oxide thickness in unidirectional and isotropic exchange-coupled NiO/NiFe bilayer films was investigated by magnetic force microscopy to better understand exchange biasing at microscopic length scales. As the NiO thickness increased, the domain structure of unidirectional biased films formed smaller and more complex in-plane domains. By contrast, for the isotropically coupled films, large domains generally formed with increasing NiO thickness including a new cross type domain with out-of-plane magnetization orientation. The density of the cross domain is proportional to exchange biasing field, and the fact that the domain mainly originated from the strongest exchange coupled region was confirmed by imaging in an applied external field during a magnetization cycle.     

The study of exchange coupling in NiFe/Cu/IrMn trilayer structures by MOKE and FMR measurements

The exchange coupling strength of NiFe/Cu/IrMn trilayer films was examined with both a new magneto optical Kerr effect (MOKE) method developed for the exchange coupling field determination and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements. We found that the value for exchange coupling field obtained by the MOKE technique coincided with FMR result with high accuracy. Other peculiarities of FMR measurements due to interlayer exchange coupling such as angular dependence of resonance field on Cu spacer thickness are also shown in the article.     

Effect of thermal annealing on the magnetic anisotropy of GaMnAs ferromagnetic semiconductor

We have systematically investigated the influence of annealing on the magnetic anisotropy properties of GaMnAs film using an epilayer with a Mn concentration of 6.2%. The GaMnAs epilayer was grown by molecular beam epitaxy and the planar Hall effect measurement was used to monitor the magnetic anisotropy of the film. We found significant annealing-induced changes in the magnetic anisotropy properties of the GaMnAs film that depended on the annealing conditions. For example, the cubic anisotropy that gave a four-fold symmetry of magnetic easy axes decreased while the uniaxial anisotropy that gave a two-fold symmetry of magnetic easy axes increases in the samples annealed temperature below 300 °C. In particular, the uniaxial anisotropy along the [010] direction in as-grown GaMnAs film changed to the [100] direction by rotating by 90° after the sample was annealed at 300 °C for 3 h. This investigation thus indicates that the magnitude and the direction of the magnetic anisotropy in the GaMnAs film can be effectively controlled by choosing an appropriate annealing time and temperature.     

CoFeB/Pt多层膜的垂直磁各向异性研究

具有垂直磁各向异性的磁性纳米结构是自旋转移力矩器件的重要研究内容, 本文采用反常霍尔效应系统地研究了磁控溅射法制备的[CoFeB/Pt]_n多层膜的垂直磁各向异性. 当CoFeB的厚度小于0.6 nm时, 可以在[CoFeB/Pt]_n多层膜中观察到清晰的垂直磁各向异性, 其垂直磁各向异性强烈依赖于CoFeB和Pt层厚度及多层膜周期数. 当多层膜周期数n ≥ 5时, 出现零剩磁现象. 另外, [CoFeB/Pt]_n多层膜的矫顽力均小于2 kA·m^-1, 有望作为垂直自由层的重要侯选材料应用于垂直磁纳米结构中.     

Origin of large spin Hall magnetoresistance in Fe/CuOx bilayers

We have compared the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) in Fe/Pt and Fe/CuO_x (with natural oxidation) bilayers with varying the thickness of Fe layer. A larger SMR in Fe/CuO_x bilayers has been found when the thickness of Fe layer is 3 nm. Moreover, the SMR of the two bilayers decrease with increasing the thickness of Fe from 3 nm to 10 nm, but that of Fe/CuO_x drops more sharply due to shunting current effect. Through harmonic measurements, the emergent spin current is proved to be generated in the Fe/CuO_x bilayers. The mixed phase of CuO_x has been confirmed including CuO, Cu₂O and Cu, which performs strong spin-orbit coupling and produce large spin current. On the other hand, the interface-generated spin current should be ruled out. All the results have been compared with those in Fe/Al₂O₃ bilayers with negligible spin current.     

Influence of the roughness on the exchange bias effect of NiFe/FeMn/NiFe trilayers

We have studied the effect of roughness on the exchanged biased NiFe/FeMn/NiFe trilayers system. The samples were prepared under three different argon working pressures (2, 5 and 10 mTorr) to obtain different roughness degrees. The root mean square roughness of the NiFe/FeMn interfaces enhances as the argon working pressure during the deposition increases from 2 to 10 mTorr. High-angle X-ray diffraction reveals that the samples have 1 1 1 texture and besides, possible changes in grain size could be an extra contribution to the interfacial roughness. Magnetometry measurements have shown that the coervive field enhances as the root mean square roughness of the NiFe/FeMn interfaces increases, while the dependence of the exchange bias field runs in the opposite way.     

Direct comparison of anisotropic magnetoresistance and planar Hall effect in epitaxial Fe3O4 thin films

The angular dependence of anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and planar Hall effect (PHE) were studied as a function of temperatures from the same epitaxial Fe₃O₄ film on MgO(001) substrates. The PHE contains only a twofold angular dependence, but the AMR below 200 K is constituted with both twofold and fourfold symmetric terms. Our results also prove that the origin of the fourfold symmetry of AMR is related to the lattice symmetry rather than the spin scattering near the antiphase boundaries.