MFM and first order reversal curve (FORC) study of switching mechanism in Co25Pd75 films

Recent research on CoPd alloys with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy has suggested that they might be useful as the pinning layer in CoFeB/MgO-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions for various spintronic applications such as spin-torque transfer random access memory. We have previously stud...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2019-07, Vol.126 (1)
Main Authors: Abugri, Joseph B., Clark, Billy D., Visscher, P. B., Gong, Jie, Gupta, Subhadra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atomic force microscopy
Coercivity
Dendritic structure
Domains
Intermetallic compounds
Magnetic anisotropy
Magnetic fields
Nucleation
Random access memory
Switching
Tunnel junctions
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Summary:Recent research on CoPd alloys with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy has suggested that they might be useful as the pinning layer in CoFeB/MgO-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions for various spintronic applications such as spin-torque transfer random access memory. We have previously studied the effect of seed layer and composition on the structure (by XRD, SEM, AFM, and TEM) and the performance (coercivity) of these CoPd films. These films do not switch coherently, so the coercivity is determined by the details of the switching mechanism, which was not studied in our previous paper. In the present paper, we show that information can be obtained about the switching mechanism from magnetic force microscopy (MFM) together with first order reversal curves, despite the fact that MFM can only be used at the zero field. We find that these films switch by a mechanism of domain nucleation and dendritic growth into a labyrinthine structure, after which the unreversed domains gradually shrink to small dots and then disappear.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.5095424