Exponentially decaying magnetic coupling in sputtered thin film FeNi/Cu/FeCo trilayers
- Department of Engineering Sciences, Uppsala University, 75121 Uppsala (Sweden)
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80918 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, 41296 Gothenburg (Sweden)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, 75120 Uppsala (Sweden)
Magnetic coupling in trilayer films of FeNi/Cu/FeCo deposited on Si/SiO{sub 2} substrates have been studied. While the thicknesses of the FeNi and FeCo layers were kept constant at 100 Å, the thickness of the Cu spacer was varied from 5 to 50 Å. Both hysteresis loop and ferromagnetic resonance results indicate that all films are ferromagnetically coupled. Micromagnetic simulations well reproduce the ferromagnetic resonance mode positions measured by experiments, enabling the extraction of the coupling constants. Films with a thin Cu spacer are found to be strongly coupled, with an effective coupling constant of 3 erg/cm{sup 2} for the sample with a 5 Å Cu spacer. The strong coupling strength is qualitatively understood within the framework of a combined effect of Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida and pinhole coupling, which is evidenced by transmission electron microscopy analysis. The magnetic coupling constant surprisingly decreases exponentially with increasing Cu spacer thickness, without showing an oscillatory thickness dependence. This is partially connected to the substantial interfacial roughness that washes away the oscillation. The results have implications on the design of multilayers for spintronic applications.
- OSTI ID:
- 22415195
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 106; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Oscillations of interlayer exchange coupling and giant magnetoresistance in (111) oriented permalloy/Au multilayers
Temperature-induced sign change of the magnetic interlayer coupling in Ni/Ni{sub 25}Mn{sub 75}/Ni trilayers on Cu{sub 3}Au(001)
Exchange coupling in hybrid anisotropy magnetic multilayers quantified by vector magnetometry
Journal Article
·
Mon Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 1994
· Physical Review Letters; (United States)
·
OSTI ID:7114853
Temperature-induced sign change of the magnetic interlayer coupling in Ni/Ni{sub 25}Mn{sub 75}/Ni trilayers on Cu{sub 3}Au(001)
Journal Article
·
Thu May 07 00:00:00 EDT 2015
· Journal of Applied Physics
·
OSTI ID:22403009
Exchange coupling in hybrid anisotropy magnetic multilayers quantified by vector magnetometry
Journal Article
·
Thu May 07 00:00:00 EDT 2015
· Journal of Applied Physics
·
OSTI ID:22409965