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Title: Room-temperature perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of MgO/Fe/MgO ultrathin films

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4843675· OSTI ID:22266167
; ;  [1]; ;  [2];  [3]; ;  [4];  [1]
  1. Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków (Poland)
  2. Department of Electronics, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków (Poland)
  3. Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Niezapominajek 8, 30-239 Kraków (Poland)
  4. NanoSpin, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University School of Science, P.O. Box 15100, FI-00076 Aalto (Finland)

We used the anomalous Hall effect to study the magnetic properties of MgO/Fe(t)/MgO(001) structures in which the Fe thickness t ranged from 4 Å to 14 Å. For the iron deposited at 140 K, we obtained perpendicular magnetization at room temperature below the critical thickness of t{sub c} = (9 ± 1) Å. In the vicinity of t{sub c}, the easy magnetization axis switched from an out-of-plane orientation to an in-plane orientation, and the observed spin-reorientation transition was considered in terms of the competition among different anisotropies. The perpendicular magnetization direction was attributed to magnetoelastic anisotropy. Finally, the temperature-dependent spin-reorientation transition was analyzed for Fe thicknesses close to t{sub c}.

OSTI ID:
22266167
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 114, Issue 22; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English