Molecular beam epitaxy growth of exchange-biased PtMnNiFe bilayers with a spontaneously ordered PtMn layer

Y. S. Choi; A. K. Petford-Long; R. C C Ward; R. Fan; J. P. Goff; T. P A Hase

doi:10.1063/1.2189935

Molecular beam epitaxy growth of exchange-biased PtMnNiFe bilayers with a spontaneously ordered PtMn layer

Y. S. Choi^*, A. K. Petford-Long, R. C C Ward, R. Fan, J. P. Goff, T. P A Hase

^*Corresponding author for this work

Materials Science and Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the direct epitaxial growth of equiatomic ordered antiferromagnetic PtMn layers by molecular beam epitaxy. Such layers are used in giant magnetoresistance spin valve sensors as the antiferromagnetic pinning layer. Structural characterization and phase identification confirmed the spontaneous formation of the chemically ordered face-centered-tetragonal (L 10) phase of PtMn with about 87.4% ordering. Based on the antiferromagnetic PtMn layer, we prepared exchange-biased PtMnNiFe bilayers with various PtMn thicknesses. The exchange anisotropy field of the bilayer with NiFe grown on PtMn stabilizes at about 50 Oe beyond a PtMn thickness of 15 nm. Although the exchange anisotropy field is small compared to that of the polycrystalline system, the antiferromagnetic domain structure is stable over repetitive external magnetic field cycling and no training effect is observed.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	083903
Journal	Journal of Applied Physics
Volume	99
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2189935
State	Published - 2006

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1063/1.2189935

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@article{9ce810385a2f48199b1d2979472a4444,

title = "Molecular beam epitaxy growth of exchange-biased PtMnNiFe bilayers with a spontaneously ordered PtMn layer",

abstract = "We report the direct epitaxial growth of equiatomic ordered antiferromagnetic PtMn layers by molecular beam epitaxy. Such layers are used in giant magnetoresistance spin valve sensors as the antiferromagnetic pinning layer. Structural characterization and phase identification confirmed the spontaneous formation of the chemically ordered face-centered-tetragonal (L 10) phase of PtMn with about 87.4% ordering. Based on the antiferromagnetic PtMn layer, we prepared exchange-biased PtMnNiFe bilayers with various PtMn thicknesses. The exchange anisotropy field of the bilayer with NiFe grown on PtMn stabilizes at about 50 Oe beyond a PtMn thickness of 15 nm. Although the exchange anisotropy field is small compared to that of the polycrystalline system, the antiferromagnetic domain structure is stable over repetitive external magnetic field cycling and no training effect is observed.",

author = "Choi, {Y. S.} and Petford-Long, {A. K.} and Ward, {R. C C} and R. Fan and Goff, {J. P.} and Hase, {T. P A}",

note = "Funding Information: Authors are grateful to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for financial support and to the Heads of the departments for laboratory space.",

year = "2006",

doi = "10.1063/1.2189935",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "99",

journal = "Journal of Applied Physics",

issn = "0021-8979",

publisher = "American Institute of Physics Publising LLC",

number = "8",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Molecular beam epitaxy growth of exchange-biased PtMnNiFe bilayers with a spontaneously ordered PtMn layer

AU - Choi, Y. S.

AU - Petford-Long, A. K.

AU - Ward, R. C C

AU - Fan, R.

AU - Goff, J. P.

AU - Hase, T. P A

N1 - Funding Information: Authors are grateful to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for financial support and to the Heads of the departments for laboratory space.

PY - 2006

Y1 - 2006

N2 - We report the direct epitaxial growth of equiatomic ordered antiferromagnetic PtMn layers by molecular beam epitaxy. Such layers are used in giant magnetoresistance spin valve sensors as the antiferromagnetic pinning layer. Structural characterization and phase identification confirmed the spontaneous formation of the chemically ordered face-centered-tetragonal (L 10) phase of PtMn with about 87.4% ordering. Based on the antiferromagnetic PtMn layer, we prepared exchange-biased PtMnNiFe bilayers with various PtMn thicknesses. The exchange anisotropy field of the bilayer with NiFe grown on PtMn stabilizes at about 50 Oe beyond a PtMn thickness of 15 nm. Although the exchange anisotropy field is small compared to that of the polycrystalline system, the antiferromagnetic domain structure is stable over repetitive external magnetic field cycling and no training effect is observed.

AB - We report the direct epitaxial growth of equiatomic ordered antiferromagnetic PtMn layers by molecular beam epitaxy. Such layers are used in giant magnetoresistance spin valve sensors as the antiferromagnetic pinning layer. Structural characterization and phase identification confirmed the spontaneous formation of the chemically ordered face-centered-tetragonal (L 10) phase of PtMn with about 87.4% ordering. Based on the antiferromagnetic PtMn layer, we prepared exchange-biased PtMnNiFe bilayers with various PtMn thicknesses. The exchange anisotropy field of the bilayer with NiFe grown on PtMn stabilizes at about 50 Oe beyond a PtMn thickness of 15 nm. Although the exchange anisotropy field is small compared to that of the polycrystalline system, the antiferromagnetic domain structure is stable over repetitive external magnetic field cycling and no training effect is observed.

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DO - 10.1063/1.2189935

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SN - 0021-8979

VL - 99

JO - Journal of Applied Physics

JF - Journal of Applied Physics

IS - 8

M1 - 083903

ER -

Molecular beam epitaxy growth of exchange-biased PtMnNiFe bilayers with a spontaneously ordered PtMn layer

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