Effect of Interface Structure on Exchange Biased Heusler Alloy Films

Author

Endo, H. ; Hirohata, A. ; Sagar, J. ; Fleet, L.R. ; Nakayama, T. ; O´Grady, K.

Author_Institution

Nihon Univ., Fukushima, Japan

Volume

48

Issue

11

fYear

2012

Firstpage

2896

Lastpage

2898

Abstract

We report on the effects of grain size in antiferromagnetic IrMn layers exchange bias to Co₂FeSi. We also report on an enhanced effect where Mn layers are inserted in the interface. The exchange-biased IrMn/Co₂FeSi samples were grown by a HiTUS system, which allows us to control the grain size. The smaller IrMn grains were too small to give a large H_ex while an Mn layer 0.5 nm thick dramatically increased H_ex. This significant increase is attributed to optimization of the Mn concentration at the interface. This grain-size and interface tuning offers a way to control the exchange bias in such systems.

Keywords

antiferromagnetic materials; chromium alloys; cobalt alloys; exchange interactions (electron); grain size; interface magnetism; interface structure; iridium alloys; iron alloys; magnetic thin films; manganese alloys; nickel alloys; silicon alloys; HiTUS system; NiCr-IrMn-Co₂FeSi; antiferromagnetic layers; exchange biased Heusler alloy films; grain size; interface structure; size 0.5 nm; Annealing; Atomic layer deposition; Educational institutions; Grain size; Magnetization; Manganese; ${rm Co}_{2}{rm FeSi}$; IrMn; exchange bias; grain size; heusler alloy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2012.2194479

Filename

6332690