Paramagnetic FexTa1-x alloys for engineering of perpendicularly magnetized tunnel junctions

Exchange coupling between two magnetic layers through an interlayer is of broad interest for numerous recent applications of nano-magnetic systems. In this letter, we study ferromagnetic exchange coupling through amorphous paramagnetic Fe-Ta alloys. We show that the exchange coupling depends exponen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:APL materials 2013-08, Vol.1 (2), p.022102-022102
Main Authors: Gottwald, Matthias, Kan, Jimmy J., Lee, Kangho, Kang, Seung H., Fullerton, Eric E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Exchange coupling between two magnetic layers through an interlayer is of broad interest for numerous recent applications of nano-magnetic systems. In this letter, we study ferromagnetic exchange coupling through amorphous paramagnetic Fe-Ta alloys. We show that the exchange coupling depends exponentially on spacer thickness and scales with the Fe-Ta susceptibility, which can be tuned via the alloy composition and/or temperature. Such materials are of high interest for the engineering of perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB-MgO based tunnel junctions as it enables ferromagnetic coupling of magnetic layers with differing crystalline lattices, suppresses dead layers, and can act as an inter-diffusion barrier during annealing.
ISSN:2166-532X
2166-532X
DOI:10.1063/1.4817897