Substrate conformal imprint fabrication process of synthetic antiferromagnetic nanoplatelets

TL;DR

This paper presents a substrate conformal imprint lithography (SCIL) method for efficient, large-scale fabrication of magnetic nanoplatelets, analyzing how fabrication steps influence their magnetic properties and reversal mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces SCIL as a fast, cost-effective technique for producing monodisperse magnetic nanoplatelets with preserved magnetic properties at different sizes.

Findings

SCIL enables large-scale fabrication of magnetic nanoplatelets.

Size reduction affects the magnetization reversal mechanism.

Fabrication steps influence magnetic properties and can be optimized.

Abstract

Methods to fabricate and characterize monodisperse magnetic nanoplatelets for fluid/bio-based applications based on spintronic thin-film principles are a challenge. This is due to the required top-down approach where the transfer of optimized blanket films to free particles in a fluid while preserving the magnetic properties is an uncharted field. Here, we explore the use of substrate conformal imprint lithography (SCIL) as a fast and cost-effective fabrication route. We analyze the size distribution of nominal 1.8 um and 120 nm diameter platelets and show the effect of the fabrication steps on the magnetic properties which we explain through changes in the dominant magnetization reversal mechanism as the size decreases. We show that SCIL allows for efficient large-scale platelet fabrication and discuss how application-specific requirements can be solved via process and material engineering.