Abstract

In this work, we report the influence of surface roughness and cluster size on coercivity of Fe/Co bilayer. Coercivity was tuned by thermal annealing. No systematic trend was found for temperature dependent annealing. However, after annealing at 350 °C, we find systematic increase in coercivity with anneal time. For as-deposited film, we find unusually low coercivity (0.39 Oe). By increasing annealing time, coercivity was tuned to values as high as 600 Oe. Surface characterization using atomic force microscopy showed uniform clusters at this temperature after 2 h of annealing. The observed magnetic properties are discussed in terms of cluster size and surface/interface roughness.

Notes

Originally published in Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 172509 (2005). DOI:10.1063/1.2119427

Latika Menon is affiliated with Northeastern University at the time of deposit.

Keywords

iron, ferromagnetic materials, cobalt, magnetic thin films, atomic force microscopy, annealing, surface roughness, interface roughness, coercive force, interface magnetism, grain size

Disciplines

Materials Science and Engineering

Publisher

American Institute of Physics

Publication Date

10-21-2005

Rights Information

© 2005 American Institute of Physics

Rights Holder

American Institute of Physics

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