Magnetization Reversal Mechanism in Exchange-Biased Spring-like Thin-Film Composite

TL;DR

This study explores the magnetization reversal process in a complex thin-film composite with exchange bias, revealing how magnetic moment arrangements depend on external fields and layer configurations, relevant for spintronic device development.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of magnetization reversal mechanisms in a novel exchange-biased multilayer structure with out-of-plane anisotropy.

Findings

Exchange bias magnitude and sign depend on magnetic moment arrangement.

Magnetic ordering is influenced by external magnetic field orientation and strength.

The multilayer structure exhibits exchange-spring-like behavior.

Abstract

Development of modern spintronic devices requires materials exhibiting specific magnetic effects. In this paper, we investigate a magnetization reversal mechanism in a [Co/Pdx]7/CoO/[Co/Pdy]7 thin-film composite where an antiferromagnet is sandwiched between a hard and a soft ferromagnets with different coercivities. The antiferromagnet/ferromagnet interfaces give rise to the exchange bias effect. The application of soft and hard ferromagnetic films causes exchange-spring-like behavior while the choice of the Co/Pd multilayers provides large out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy. We observed that the magnitude and the sign of the exchange bias anisotropy field are related to the arrangement of the magnetic moments in the antiferromagnetic layer. This ordering is induced by the spin orientation present in neighboring ferromagnetic films which is, in turn, dependent on the orientation and strength of the external magnetic field.