Thermal instabilities in exchange biased materials

L.E. Fernandez-Outon; Gonzalo Vallejo Fernandez; S. Manzoor; K. O’Grady

doi:10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.01.080

Thermal instabilities in exchange biased materials

L.E. Fernandez-Outon, Gonzalo Vallejo Fernandez, S. Manzoor, K. O’Grady

Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The use of antiferromagnetic (AF) materials to pin a soft ferromagnet (FM) in a spin-valve, read head, or MRAM cell, has focussed attention on the exchange bias phenomenon. We report on a study of the thermal stability of exchange bias systems, IrMn/CoFe and FeMn/NiFe, with different thicknesses and grain sizes. For these materials a temperature has been determined at which thermal activation does not affect the state of the antiferromagnet, leading to reproducible data. Grain size studies have shown that the coercivity and exchange bias have different origins. Training effects studied over a range of temperatures from 4.2 to 400 K indicate a range of different contributions to exchange bias from the magnetic state of the antiferromagnet. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	296-301
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
Volume	303
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.01.080
Publication status	Published - Aug 2006

Keywords

exchange bias
anisotropy
training effects
thermal activation
grain-size effects
GRAIN-SIZE
ANISOTROPY
BILAYERS
SYSTEMS

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.01.080

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.01.080

Cite this

@article{91f03caa7aae4b04b01251c068fb4029,

title = "Thermal instabilities in exchange biased materials",

abstract = "The use of antiferromagnetic (AF) materials to pin a soft ferromagnet (FM) in a spin-valve, read head, or MRAM cell, has focussed attention on the exchange bias phenomenon. We report on a study of the thermal stability of exchange bias systems, IrMn/CoFe and FeMn/NiFe, with different thicknesses and grain sizes. For these materials a temperature has been determined at which thermal activation does not affect the state of the antiferromagnet, leading to reproducible data. Grain size studies have shown that the coercivity and exchange bias have different origins. Training effects studied over a range of temperatures from 4.2 to 400 K indicate a range of different contributions to exchange bias from the magnetic state of the antiferromagnet. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.",

keywords = "exchange bias, anisotropy, training effects, thermal activation, grain-size effects, GRAIN-SIZE, ANISOTROPY, BILAYERS, SYSTEMS",

author = "L.E. Fernandez-Outon and {Vallejo Fernandez}, Gonzalo and S. Manzoor and K. O{\textquoteright}Grady",

year = "2006",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.01.080",

language = "English",

volume = "303",

pages = "296--301",

journal = "Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials",

issn = "0304-8853",

publisher = "Elsevier",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Thermal instabilities in exchange biased materials

AU - Fernandez-Outon, L.E.

AU - Vallejo Fernandez, Gonzalo

AU - Manzoor, S.

AU - O’Grady, K.

PY - 2006/8

Y1 - 2006/8

N2 - The use of antiferromagnetic (AF) materials to pin a soft ferromagnet (FM) in a spin-valve, read head, or MRAM cell, has focussed attention on the exchange bias phenomenon. We report on a study of the thermal stability of exchange bias systems, IrMn/CoFe and FeMn/NiFe, with different thicknesses and grain sizes. For these materials a temperature has been determined at which thermal activation does not affect the state of the antiferromagnet, leading to reproducible data. Grain size studies have shown that the coercivity and exchange bias have different origins. Training effects studied over a range of temperatures from 4.2 to 400 K indicate a range of different contributions to exchange bias from the magnetic state of the antiferromagnet. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AB - The use of antiferromagnetic (AF) materials to pin a soft ferromagnet (FM) in a spin-valve, read head, or MRAM cell, has focussed attention on the exchange bias phenomenon. We report on a study of the thermal stability of exchange bias systems, IrMn/CoFe and FeMn/NiFe, with different thicknesses and grain sizes. For these materials a temperature has been determined at which thermal activation does not affect the state of the antiferromagnet, leading to reproducible data. Grain size studies have shown that the coercivity and exchange bias have different origins. Training effects studied over a range of temperatures from 4.2 to 400 K indicate a range of different contributions to exchange bias from the magnetic state of the antiferromagnet. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KW - exchange bias

KW - anisotropy

KW - training effects

KW - thermal activation

KW - grain-size effects

KW - GRAIN-SIZE

KW - ANISOTROPY

KW - BILAYERS

KW - SYSTEMS

U2 - 10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.01.080

DO - 10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.01.080

M3 - Article

SN - 0304-8853

VL - 303

SP - 296

EP - 301

JO - Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

JF - Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

IS - 2

ER -