Interfacial exchange and magnetostatic coupling in a CoFeB/Thulium Iron Garnet heterostructure

TL;DR

This study explores the interfacial exchange and magnetostatic coupling in a heterostructure combining a ferrimagnetic insulator and a ferromagnetic metal, revealing how layer thickness controls the dominant interaction, with implications for spintronic devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates how varying CoFeB thickness tunes the balance between exchange and magnetostatic coupling in FI/FMM heterostructures, advancing spintronic device design.

Findings

Strong exchange coupling for CoFeB <= 1 nm

Magnetostatic coupling dominates at CoFeB >= 3 nm

Layer thickness controls the coupling type

Abstract

We investigate the exchange coupling between a ferrimagnetic insulator (FI) thulium iron garnet (TmIG) deposited on a gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrate, which shows perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and a ferromagnetic metal (FMM) stack with oxide capping that consists of CoFeB(x)/W(0.4 nm)/CoFeB(0.8 nm)/MgO(1 nm)/W(5 nm). Vibrating sample magnetometry, magneto-optical Kerr microscopy and first-order reversal curve studies coupled with micromagnetic simulations are used to analyze the coupling between these layers. Strong interlayer exchange coupling and magnetostatic coupling are observed in the samples where the relative strength between these interactions can be controlled by varying the thickness of the CoFeB layer. Films with CoFeB thickness x <=1 nm are strongly exchange coupled, whereas the magnetostatic coupling dominates when the thickness is increased to 3 nm or above. These findings have important implications towards realizing fast and energy efficient spintronic devices using a FI, as its coupling to the FMM layer can be used for effective electrical read out of the magnetic state of the FI.