Investigation of the Tunability of the Spin Configuration Inside Exchange Coupled Springs of Hard/Soft Magnets

• Published in: IEEE transactions on magnetics Vol. 50; no. 6; pp. 1 - 6
• Main Authors: Thi Ngoc Anh Nguyen, Fallahi, Vahid, Quang Tuan Le, Sunjea Chung, Mohseni, Seyed Majid, Dumas, Randy K., Miller, Casey W., Akerman, Johan
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.06.2014; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Anisotropic magnetoresistance; ANISOTROPY; Applied; Competing magnetic anisotropy; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; DENSITY; Electrical & Electronic; Engineering; Exact sciences and technology; exchange spring; Fysik; IP networks; Magnetic tunneling; Magnetism; Magnetization; Materials; Materials science; MULTILAYERS; Other topics in materials science; Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; Physical Sciences; Physics; tilted anisotropy materials; TORQUE; tunable magnetization; exchange spring; Competing magnetic anisotropy; tunable magnetization; tilted anisotropy materials; Magnetization; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnets; Springs; Magnetic properties
• ISSN: 0018-9464; 1941-0069; 1941-0069
• DOI: 10.1109/TMAG.2014.2299976

Magnetic multilayer (ML) structures comprising a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) layer coupled to an in-plane magnetic anisotropy (IMA) layer are promising materials for zero/low field operating spin-torque oscillators and bit patterned recording media. The magnetization tilt angle can be easily tuned by varying the IMA layer thickness due to the competition between PMA and IMA layers. To explore the underlying magnetization reversal mechanism and to further understand the control of tilt angle and uniformity of the magnetization, the IMA (NiFe, Co, and CoFeB)/PMA (Co/Pd MLs) exchange spring systems are systematically studied. Experimental data obtained from magnetometry show good agreement with 1-D micromagnetic simulations, allowing us to design tunable exchange coupled spring as a function of IMA thickness.