Effect of Ta Underlayer on Perpendicular Anisotropy of TbFeCo Films

Author

Yin, S.Q. ; Li, X.Q. ; Xu, X.G. ; Miao, Jianmin ; Jiang, Yizhang

Author_Institution

State Key Lab. for Adv. Metals & Mater., Univ. of Sci. & Technol. Beijing, Beijing, China

Volume

47

Issue

10

fYear

2011

Firstpage

3129

Lastpage

3131

Abstract

We study Ta underlayer thickness dependence of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in TbFeCo films. The experiment shows that perpendicular coercivity, saturation magnetization, and remanent squareness ratio of the TbFeCo films change significantly with the Ta underlayer thickness. For example, the perpendicular coercivity (Hc) of the films increases from 671 to 2305 Oe. The reason is that the Ta underlayer affects the number of magnetic pinning sites and the oxidation of the films by residual oxygen atoms in the experimental environment.

Keywords

cobalt alloys; coercive force; iron alloys; magnetic thin films; oxidation; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; tantalum alloys; terbium alloys; Ta underlayer effect; Ta underlayer thickness; TbFeCo-Ta; film oxidation; film perpendicular anisotropy; magnetic pinning sites; perpendicular coercivity; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; remanent squareness ratio; residual oxygen atoms; saturation magnetization; Amorphous magnetic materials; Magnetic multilayers; Magnetic properties; Nonhomogeneous media; Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; Silicon; Interface; Ta underlayer; TbFeCo films; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2011.2157310

Filename

6028231