Title :
Exchange coupling of (Mn-Ir, Fe-Mn)/Ni-Fe-Co and Ni-Fe-Co/(Mn-Ir, Fe-Mn) films formed by ion beam sputtering
Author :
Nakatani, Ryoichi ; Hoshiya, Hiroyuki ; Hoshino, Katsumi ; Sugita, Yutaka
Author_Institution :
Central Res. Lab., Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
fDate :
9/1/1997 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
We investigated exchange couplings between magnetic layers and antiferromagnetic layers in (Mn-Ir, Fe-Mn)/Ni-Fe-Co and Ni-Fe-Co/(Mn-Ir, Fe-Mn) films formed by ion beam sputtering. We changed a stacking order between the magnetic layers and antiferromagnetic layers, and the thickness of the antiferromagnetic layers. In both the Fe-Mn/Ni-Fe-Co and the Ni-Fe-Co/Fe-Mn films, high exchange bias fields applied to the Ni-Fe-Co layers were observed, when the thickness of the Fe-Mn layer was 10-20 nm. When the Mn-Ir layers were formed on the Ni-Fe layers, the high exchange bias fields were also observed. However, the exchange bias fields were very low when the Mn-Ir layers were formed under the Ni-Fe layers. The decrease of the exchange bias field was caused by the deterioration of the (111) texture near the top surface which faces the Ni-Fe layer in the Mn-Ir layer
Keywords :
antiferromagnetic materials; cobalt alloys; exchange interactions (electron); ferromagnetic materials; iridium alloys; iron alloys; magnetic multilayers; manganese alloys; metallic superlattices; nickel alloys; sputtered coatings; transmission electron microscopy; (111) texture; (Mn-Ir, Fe-Mn)/Ni-Fe-Co films; 10 to 20 nm; FeMn; MnIr; Ni-Fe-Co/(Mn-Ir, Fe-Mn) films; NiFeCo; antiferromagnetic layers; exchange coupling; high exchange bias fields; ion beam sputtering; layer thickness; magnetic layers; stacking order; Acceleration; Antiferromagnetic materials; Hafnium; Ion beams; Magnetic films; Magnetic multilayers; Optical coupling; Sputtering; Stacking; Voltage;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
