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Title: Magnetic strip patterns induced by focused ion beam irradiation

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2894587· OSTI ID:21134000
;  [1];  [2]; ;  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz (Germany)
  2. IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California 95123 (United States)
  3. San Jose Research Center, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, 3403 Yerba Buena Road, San Jose, California 95135 (United States)
  4. Department of Engineering Materials, University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD (United Kingdom)
  5. Institute of Physics, Chemnitz University of Technology, D-09107 Chemnitz (Germany)

Focused ion beam exposure was used to locally alter the magnetic properties of a continuous Co/Pd multilayer film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The saturation magnetization, coercivity, and magnetic anisotropy of the films can be tuned by Ga irradiation depending on exposure dose. As a result, a periodic strip pattern consisting of 80 nm wide exposed strips which are magnetically soft, separated by 170 nm wide magnetically hard, unexposed areas was created. Due to strong magnetostatic coupling between the strips, a number of magnetic domain configurations could be stabilized and these have been observed by magnetic force microscopy and magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements. The magnetic domain configurations and their reversal behavior were investigated by micromagnetic simulations as a function of exposure dose and strip period.

OSTI ID:
21134000
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 103, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2894587; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English