Title :
Saturation Curve for a Synthetic Antiferromagnetic System
Author :
Olariu, Cristina Stefania ; Stancu, Alexandru
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Phys., Alexandru loan Cuza Univ., Iasi, Romania
Abstract :
For toggle magnetic random access memory, the saturation field represents the exterior limit of the work region. Exterior magnetic fields higher than the saturation field lead to an irremediable loss of the stored information because the antiferromagnetic state of the synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) structure becomes a ferromagnetic state and data stored in the magnetic memory cell are altered. At the saturation point, the two ferromagnetic-layer magnetizations became parallel oriented, in a direction close to that of the applied field. In this paper, we present a method to find an analytical formula for the magnetic saturation field that depends on the angle between the applied magnetic field related to the easy anisotropy axis, on the amplitude of the antiferromagnetic coupling field between the ferromagnetic layers, on the geometrical characteristics of the SAF structure, and on the second term of the series expansion of the anisotropy energy of the system. This method allows us to obtain an analytical formula for saturation field that depends only on the controllable parameters of the SAF structure. This analytically obtained critical saturation curve perfectly matches with the critical saturation curve reported in previous papers.
Keywords :
MRAM devices; antiferromagnetism; ferromagnetism; interface magnetism; magnetic anisotropy; anisotropy energy; antiferromagnetic coupling field; critical saturation curve; exterior magnetic fields; ferromagnetic-layer magnetizations; magnetic saturation field; synthetic antiferromagnetic structure; toggle magnetic random access memory cell; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Antiferromagnetic materials; Couplings; Magnetic analysis; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic fields; Magnetic memory; Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; Random access memory; Saturation magnetization; MRAM; SAF; saturation curve; saturation field; toggle mode;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMAG.2009.2023118