Switching of sub-micrometer sized, antiferromagnetically coupled CoFeB/Ru/CoFeB trilayers

TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic reversal behavior of sub-micrometer CoFeB/Ru/CoFeB trilayer elements, revealing how antiferromagnetic coupling influences coercivity and switching characteristics in patterned nanoscale structures.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the magnetic switching of antiferromagnetically coupled CoFeB trilayers at the nanoscale, highlighting effects of aspect ratio and magnetic imbalance.

Findings

Coercivity decreases with increased magnetic imbalance.

AFi exhibits higher coercivity than single-layer CoFeB.

Switching behavior depends on net magnetic moment.

Abstract

This work reports on the magnetic reversal of sub-micrometer sized elements consisting of an CoFeB/Ru/CoFeB artificial ferrimagnet (AFi). The elements were patterned into ellipses having a width of approximately 250 to 270nm and a varying aspect ratio between 1.3 and 8. The coercivity was found to decrease with an increasing imbalance of the magnetic moment of the two antiferromagnetically coupled layers and is therefore strongly affected by an increase of effective anisotropy due to the antiferromagnetic coupling of the two layers. With respect to a single layer of amorphous CoFeB, patterned in comparable elements, the AFi has an increased coercivity. Switching asteroids comparable to single layers were only observed for samples with a high net moment.