Magnetic Properties of Ultrathin TbFeCo Magnetic Films With Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

Author

Lee, Ching-Ming ; Ye, Lin-Xiu ; Lee, Jia-Mou ; Hsieh, Tung-Hsien ; Syu, Jhih-Wei ; Chen, Wen-Jaun ; Huang, Chao-Yuan ; Wu, Te-Ho

Author_Institution

Taiwan SPIN Res. Center, Nat. Yunlin Univ. of Sci. & Technol., Douliou, Taiwan

Volume

45

Issue

10

fYear

2009

Firstpage

4023

Lastpage

4026

Abstract

In this study, we report on the experimental results of ultrathin TbFeCo films fabrications. The effects of annealing conditions on the magnetic characteristics of ultrathin TbFeCo magnetic films with various under- and capping-layers were explored. The effects of using SiNx, Al and Ti as capping- and under-layers are also investigated. We found that in contrast to the flat surface of SiN, the rugged interfaces induced by Al and Ti layers are beneficial in enhancing the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy for ultrathin TbFeCo films with thickness down to 3 nm. The STEM line scan shows the strong diffusion of Al atoms into TbFeCo layers. Annealing treatment can be used for control of coercivity from 85 Oe to 1 kOe.

Keywords

aluminium; annealing; chemical interdiffusion; cobalt alloys; coercive force; iron alloys; magnetic multilayers; magnetic thin films; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; scanning-transmission electron microscopy; silicon compounds; terbium alloys; titanium; Al-TbFeCo-Al; STEM; SiN-TbFeCo-Al; SiN-TbFeCo-SiN; Ti-TbFeCo-Ti; annealing conditions; capping-layers; coercivity; diffusion; magnetic properties; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; rugged interfaces; ultrathin magnetic films; Magnetic thin film; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; rare-earth-transition metal;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2009.2024887

Filename

5257043