No Access Submitted: 23 July 2013 Accepted: 11 August 2013 Published Online: 06 September 2013
Journal of Applied Physics 114, 093911 (2013); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4819380
Magnetization reversal processes in Au/Co/Au-wedge/Co/Au pseudo-spin-valve structures characterized by perpendicular anisotropy of 0.6-nm-thick Co layers were investigated by magneto-optical Kerr effect. The samples were deposited on a Ti/Au buffer layer of differing Au-layer thickness (different surface roughness and crystallite size). The distinctive influence of the buffer layer thickness on the dependences of switching fields, and energy of the effective interlayer coupling, versus Au spacer thickness is presented. In particular, increasing the buffer-layer thickness results in a decrease in the oscillation amplitude of the Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida-type interaction and in the enhancement of the antiferromagnetic coupling related to magnetostatic (orange peel) interactions.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education under the Grant IP No. 2011 028371, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and Polish National Science Center. P.K. is also supported by the Foundation for Polish Science.
  1. 1. H. J. Richter, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 40, R149 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/40/9/R01 , Google ScholarCrossref
  2. 2. J. H. Franken, H. J. M. Swagten, and B. Koopmans, Nat. Nanotechnol. 7, 499 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2012.111 , Google ScholarCrossref
  3. 3. R. Lavrijsen, J. H. Lee, A. Fernández-Pacheco, D. C. C. Petit, R. Mansell, and R. P. Cowburn, Nature 493, 647 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11733 , Google ScholarCrossref
  4. 4. M. Matczak, P. Kuświk, B. Szymański, M. Urbaniak, M. Schmidt, J. Aleksiejew, F. Stobiecki, and A. Ehresmann, Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 162402 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4704176 , Google ScholarScitation
  5. 5. P. Tierno, S. V. Reddy, J. Yuan, T. H. Johansen, and T. M. Fischer, J. Phys. Chem. B 111, 13479 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1021/jp0755589 , Google ScholarCrossref
  6. 6. H. W. Fuller and D. L. Sullivan, J. Appl. Phys. 33, 1063 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1728600 , Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  7. 7. B. Dieny, J. P. Gavigan, and J. P. Rebouilalat, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 2, 159 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/2/1/013 , Google ScholarCrossref
  8. 8. M. Stiles, “ Interlayer exchange coupling,” in Ultrathin Magnetic Structures (Springer-Verlag, 2002). Google Scholar
  9. 9. P. Bruno, “ Interlayer exchange interactions in magnetic multilayers,” in Magnetism: Molecules to Materials (Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, 2002). Google Scholar
  10. 10. J. F. Bobo, H. Kikuchi, O. Redon, E. Snoeck, M. Piecuch, and R. L. White, Phys. Rev. B 60, 4131 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.60.4131 , Google ScholarCrossref
  11. 11. D. B. Fulghum and R. E. Camley, Phys. Rev. B 52, 13436 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.52.13436 , Google ScholarCrossref
  12. 12. P. W. T. Pong, C. L. Dennis, A. Castillo, A. Chen, and W. F. Egelhoff, J. Appl. Phys. 103, 07A902 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2829018 , Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  13. 13. S. S. P. Parkin, N. More, and K. P. Roche, Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 2304 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.64.2304 , Google ScholarCrossref
  14. 14. L. Néel, Acad. Sci., Paris, C. R. 255, 1545 (1962); Google Scholar
    L. Néel, Acad. Sci., Paris, C. R. 255, 1676 (1962). Google Scholar
  15. 15. J. Moritz, F. Garcia, J. C. Toussaint, B. Dieny, and J. P. Noziéres, Europhys. Lett. 65, 123 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2003-10063-9 , Google ScholarCrossref
  16. 16. L. Thomas, M. G. Samant, and S. S. P. Parkin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1816 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.1816 , Google ScholarCrossref
  17. 17. V. Baltz, A. Marty, B. Rodmacq, and B. Dieny, Phys. Rev. B 75, 014406 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.75.014406 , Google ScholarCrossref
  18. 18. A. Anguelouch, B. D. Schrag, G. Xiao, Y. Lu, P. L. Trouilloud, R. A. Wanner, W. J. Gallagher, and S. S. P. Parkin, Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 622 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.125838 , Google ScholarScitation
  19. 19. V. Baltz, B. Rodmacq, A. Bollero, J. Ferré, S. Landis, and B. Dieny, Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 052503 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3078523 , Google ScholarScitation
  20. 20. X. M. Liu, P. Ho, J. S. Chen, and A. O. Adeyeye, J. Appl. Phys. 112, 073902 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4754858 , Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  21. 21. Z. Y. Liu, F. Zhang, N. Li, B. Xu, J. L. He, D. L. Yu, and Y. J. Tian, Phys. Rev. B 77, 012409 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.012409 , Google ScholarCrossref
  22. 22. L. Li, Y. Lu, Z. Liu, Y. Lv, Y. Zhang, S. Liu, C. Hao, and W. Lv, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 325, 117 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmmm.2012.08.018 , Google ScholarCrossref
  23. 23. J. Moritz, P. Bacher, S. Auffret, and B. Dieny, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 323, 2391 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmmm.2011.05.003 , Google ScholarCrossref
  24. 24. J. W. Knepper and F. Y. Yang, Phys. Rev. B 71, 224403 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.71.224403 , Google ScholarCrossref
  25. 25. J. M. Shaw, H. T. Nembach, T. J. Silva, S. E. Russek, R. Geiss, C. Jones, N. Clark, T. Leo, and D. J. Smith, Phys. Rev. B 80, 184419 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.80.184419 , Google ScholarCrossref
  26. 26. P. Bruno and C. Chappert, Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 1602 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.67.1602 , Google ScholarCrossref
  27. 27. V. Grolier, D. Renard, B. Bartenlian, P. Beauvillain, C. Chappert, C. Dupas, J. Ferré, M. Galtier, E. Kolb, M. Mulloy, J. P. Renard, and P. Veillet, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 3023 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.71.3023 , Google ScholarCrossref
  28. 28. A. Bounouh, P. Beauvillain, P. Bruno, C. Chappert, R. Mégy, and P. Veillet, Europhys. Lett. 33, 315 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i1996-00339-6 , Google ScholarCrossref
  29. 29. Y. Roussigné, F. Ganot, C. Dugautier, D. Renard, and P. Moch, Phys. Rev. B 52, 350 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.52.350 , Google ScholarCrossref
  30. 30. M. Mulloy, E. Vélu, C. Dupas, M. Galtier, E. Kolb, D. Renard, and J. P. Renard, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 147, 177 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-8853(94)01642-9 , Google ScholarCrossref
  31. 31. M. Labrune and A. Thiaville, Eur. Phys. J. B 23, 17 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510170078 , Google ScholarCrossref
  32. 32. M. Tekielak, R. Gieniusz, M. Kisielewski, P. Mazalski, A. Maziewski, V. Zablotskii, F. Stobiecki, B. Szymański, and R. Schäfer, J. Appl. Phys. 110, 043924 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3626747 , Google ScholarScitation
  33. 33. S. S. P. Parkin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 3598 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.67.3598 , Google ScholarCrossref
  34. 34. S. Honda, T. Fujimoto, and M. Nawate, J. Appl. Phys. 80, 5175 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.363501 , Google ScholarScitation
  35. 35. C. Christides, R. Lopušnik, J. Mistrik, S. Stavroyiannis, and Š. Višňovský, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 198, 36 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-8853(98)00611-8 , Google ScholarCrossref
  36. 36. V. Karoutsos, M. Toudas, A. Delimitis, S. Grammatikopoulus, and P. Poulopoulos, Thin Solid Films 520, 4074 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2012.01.010 , Google ScholarCrossref
  37. 37. J. M. Shaw, H. T. Nembach, and T. J. Silva, J. Appl. Phys. 108, 093922 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3506688 , Google ScholarScitation
  38. 38. I. Horcas, R. Fernández, J. M. Gómez-Rodriguez, J. Colchero, J. Gómez-Herrero, and A. M. Baro, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78, 013705 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2432410 , Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  39. 39. I. Petrov, P. B. Barna, L. Hultman, and J. E. Greene, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 21, S117 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1116/1.1601610 , Google ScholarCrossref, ISI
  40. 40. J. Pommier, P. Meyer, G. Pénissard, J. Ferré, P. Bruno, and D. Renard, Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 2054 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.65.2054 , Google ScholarCrossref
  41. 41. M. Robinson, Y. Au, J. W. Knepper, F. Y. Yang, and R. Sooryakumar, Phys. Rev. B 73, 224422 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.73.224422 , Google ScholarCrossref
  42. 42. Z. Y. Liu, F. Zhang, H. L. Chen, B. Xu, D. L. Yu, J. L. He, and Y. J. Tian, Phys. Rev. B 79, 024427 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.79.024427 , Google ScholarCrossref
  43. 43. M. Urbaniak, F. Stobiecki, B. Szymański, A. Ehresmann, A. Maziewski, and M. Tekielak, J. Appl. Phys. 101, 013905 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2403972 , Google ScholarScitation
  44. 44. S. S. P. Parkin and D. Mauri, Phys. Rev. B 44, 7131 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.44.7131 , Google ScholarCrossref
  1. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.