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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,117 records · Page 62
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Investigation on the antiferromagnetic component in the intrinsic exchange bias in structurally single phase Cr{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin film

We report the intrinsic exchange bias in structurally single phase Cr{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin film grown by low temperature molecular beam epitaxy. The hysteresis loop shift is confirmed due to the ferromagnet/antiferromagnet coupling rather than surface spin disorder effect or minor loop effect. The AFM component attributing to the exchange bias stems from the vacancy Cr layer in Cr{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and is of two dimensions. The magnetic properties of the AFM component are investigated by studying the temperature dependence and the measure field dependence of coercivity and hysteresis loop shift. The blocking temperature is determined to be about 110 K. It is found that the two dimensional AFM component would lose its irreversibility for larger applied measure field.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Aligned and exchange-coupled L1{sub 0} (Fe,Co)Pt-based magnetic films

Films of aligned L1{sub 0}-structure (Fe,Co)Pt with fcc Fe(Co,Pt) are synthesized by co-sputtering Fe, Co, and Pt on an (001) MgO substrate with in situ heating at 830 deg. C. The nanostructures and magnetic properties of the films are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). The compositions of the samples (Fe,Co){sub x}Pt{sub 1-x} are designed to maintain an atomic Fe: Co ratio of 65: 35 while increasing the Fe,Co content in each successive sample. In samples with low Fe and Co concentration, the XRD patterns exhibit three strong peaks, namely L1{sub 0} (Fe,Co)Pt (001), L1{sub 0} (Fe,Co)Pt (002), and MgO (002). A fourth peak is observed in samples with high Fe and Co concentration and identified as fcc (002). The XRD patterns confirm the formation of L1{sub 0}-ordered (Fe,Co)Pt and its epitaxial growth on MgO. TEM shows that the (Fe,Co)Pt films form isolated magnetic grains of about 100 nm in diameter. Hysteresis-loop measurements show that the increase of the Fe,Co concentration from 57.3 to 68.3 at % enhances the saturation magnetization M{sub s} from 1245 emu/cm{sup 3} to 1416 emu/cm{sup 3}, and the coercivity decreases from 32 kOe to 8.9 kOe. The nominal maximum energy product per grain is 64 MGOe.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Interface roughness induced asymmetric magnetic property in sputter-deposited Co/CoO/Co exchange coupled trilayers

The effect of interface roughness on magnetic properties of exchange coupled polycrystalline Co/CoO(t{sub AF})/Co trilayers has been investigated by varying antiferromagnetic layer (CoO) thickness. It has been found that the upper CoO/Co interface becomes rougher with increasing CoO layer thickness, resulting in stronger exchange bias of the upper interface than the lower one. The interfacial exchange coupling is strengthened by the increase of defect-generated uncompensated antiferromagnetic spins; such spins form coupling with spins in the Co layer at the interface. As a result, the CoO layer thickness dependence of exchange bias is much enhanced for the upper Co layer. The transition from anisotropic magnetoresistance to isotropic magnetoresistance for the top Co layer has also been found. This could be attributed to the defects, probably partial thin oxide layers, between Co grains in the top Co layer that leads a switch from spin-orbit scattering related magnetoresistance to spin-dependent electron scattering dominated magnetoresistance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Tailoring interfacial exchange coupling with low-energy ion beam bombardment: Tuning the interface roughness

By ascertaining NiO surface roughness in a Ni{sub 80}Fe{sub 20}/NiO film system, we were able to correlate the effects of altered interface roughness from low-energy ion-beam bombardment of the NiO layer and the different thermal instabilities in the NiO nanocrystallites. From experiment and by modelling the temperature dependence of the exchange bias field and coercivity, we have found that reducing the interface roughness and changing the interface texture from an irregular to striped conformation enhanced the exchange coupling strength. Our results were in good agreement with recent simulations using the domain state model that incorporated interface mixing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2012

Influence of boron doping on magnetic properties and microwave characteristics of MnIr/FeCoB multilayers

A detailed investigation of the influence of B doping on the magnetic properties and high frequency characteristics of FeCoB/MnIr multilayered thin films was carried out. Exchange bias was found to decrease monotonically with B doping possibly due to less favorable of AF phase of MnIr in the samples with rich B concentration. However, with small amount of doping up to 9% of B concentration, the MnIr fcc (111) peaks become more prominent and the real part of permeability enhanced. Our results suggest no correlation between the structural phase of MnIr and the exchange bias. Also, the influences of B doping on several static and dynamic parameters, such as rotational magnetic anisotropy field, coercivity, saturation magnetization, resonance frequency, and effective damping factor are presented and discussed. Our results support the claim that the coercivity enhancement and the arising of rotational anisotropy may have the same physical origin.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Direct manipulation of the uncompensated antiferromagnetic spins in exchange coupled system by GeV ion irradiation

Incident ion energy to matrix electrons of a material is dissipated within a narrow cylinder surrounding the swift heavy ion path. The temperature of the lattice exceeds the melting point and upon quenching causes nanometric modifications. We present here a unique ex situ approach in manipulating the uncompensated spins in antiferromagnetic layers of ferro-/antiferromagnetic exchange coupled systems on a nanometric scale. We use the impact of relativistic heavy ion (1-2 GeV) irradiation on such systems. We find an increase in the bias field and a restoration of the reversal via domain nucleation in the trained state. These are identified as plausible results of ion-induced antiferromagnetic ordering with little or no effect on the layer structure. This study demonstrates, therefore, the possibility of nanoscale tailoring of exchange coupled systems that survive even in the trained state.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2012

Influence of intergranular exchange coupling on the magnetization dynamics of CoCrPt:SiO{sub 2} granular media

We investigate the effect of Co{sup +} irradiation on the magnetization dynamics of CoCrPt:SiO{sub 2} granular media. Increasing irradiation levels reduce the saturation magnetization and effective anisotropy, which decrease the intrinsic magnetization precession frequency. Furthermore, increasing intergranular exchange coupling results in a qualitative change in the behavior of the magnetic material from a collection of individual grains to a homogeneous thin film, as evidenced in both the switching behavior and dynamics. The frequency change cannot be explained by single crystal macrospin modeling, and can only be reproduced by the inclusion of the dipolar effects and anisotropy distribution inherent in a granular medium.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2012

Tuning the direction of exchange bias in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayer by angular-dependent spin-polarized current

The angular dependence of an external magnetic field applied with an in-plane alternating pulse that induces a new direction of exchange bias (EB) is observed in an NiFe/IrMn bilayer. Depending strongly on the direction of the external field, EB field gradually orients along the external field with the increase in current pulse, and the new direction of EB is finally established. Furthermore, the new direction of EB can also be induced along the external field at once when the applied pulse is larger than the critical current. Because the strength and direction of the EB is highly correlated with the micromagnetic state distribution of the antiferromagnet, the observations are explained by the spin torque exerted on the antiferromagnetic moments and provide evidence for the prediction of spin transfer and current-induced switching in antiferromagnets.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2012

Exchange bias properties of [Co/CoO]{sub n} multilayers

In this study, the exchange bias properties of four polycrystalline multilayer stack samples of antiferromagnetic (AF) CoO and ferromagnetic (FM) Co in the form of [CoO/Co]{sub n} with n = 1, 2, 3, and 5 are reported. The samples were grown on top of Si (001) substrates by using magnetron sputtering method. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to determine the structural properties of the samples. XPS measurements of cobalt oxide layer revealed the coexistence of different phases in cobalt oxide as CoO and Co{sub 3}O{sub 4}, the latter of which lowers the blocking temperature. The blocking temperature is also affected by the finite size scaling effects observed in AF layers. In-plane ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements revealed uniaxial in-plane magnetic anisotropy for the samples. Low temperature vibrating sample magnetometer measurements provided exchange bias with a stepwise character. Observed steps are believed to be due to magnetization reversals of individual FM layers with varying thicknesses, each of which is pinned through two interfaces from above and below with two AFM layers, except the uppermost FM Co layer with a single AFM neighbor.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Influence of growth and annealing conditions on low-frequency magnetic 1/f noise in MgO magnetic tunnel junctions

Magnetic 1/f noise is compared in magnetic tunnel junctions with electron-beam evaporated and sputtered MgO tunnel barriers in the annealing temperature range 350 - 425 Degree-Sign C. The variation of the magnetic noise parameter ({alpha}{sub mag}) of the reference layer with annealing temperature mainly reflects the variation of the pinning effect of the exchange-bias layer. A reduction in {alpha}{sub mag} with bias is associated with the bias dependence of the tunneling magnetoresistance. The related magnetic losses are parameterized by a phase lag {epsilon}, which is nearly independent of bias especially below 100 mV. The similar changes in magnetic noise with annealing temperature and barrier thickness for two types of MgO magnetic tunnel junctions indicate that the barrier layer quality does not affect the magnetic losses in the reference layer.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2012

Spacer-less, decoupled granular L1{sub 0} FePt magnetic media using Ar-He sputtering gas

Spacer materials are often used to fabricate granular L1{sub 0} FePt media and reduce the grain size, however, at the expense of reduced out-of-plane coercivity. Here, we demonstrate a spacer-less method in which adding 1% helium to argon sputtering gas leads to a substantial improvement in the chemical ordering, as well as the magnetic and microstructural properties of FePt. This change is attributed to the modification in the ion current density of the plasma caused by the excited metastable helium species. Helium plays a pivotal role in providing the Fe and Pt atoms optimal adatom mobility, thereby, producing well-ordered L1{sub 0} FePt media. This leads to an enhancement of the out-of-plane coercivity from 15 to 22 kOe. Furthermore, exchange decoupled grains with a twofold reduction in their diameter to {approx}24 nm are also achieved. These properties are crucial for magnetic media of the future for data storage recording densities beyond 1 Tb/in{sup 2}.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Thermally driven asymmetric responses of grains versus spin-glass related distributions of blocking temperature in exchange biased Co/IrMn bilayers

Controlling ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic blocking temperatures in exchange biased based devices appears crucial for applications. The blocking temperature is ascribed to the ability of both antiferromagnetic grains and interfacial spin-glass-like phases to withstand ferromagnetic magnetization reversal. To better understand the respective contributions of grains versus spin-glass, blocking temperature distributions were measured after various thermal treatments for cobalt/iridium-manganese bilayers. The high-temperature contribution linked to antiferromagnetic grains shifts towards lower temperatures above a threshold thermal annealing. In contrast, the occurrence and evolution of training effects for the low-temperature contribution only agree with its inferred interfacial spin-glass-like origin.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Setting temperature effect in polycrystalline exchange-biased IrMn/CoFe bilayers

We study the effect of atomic interdiffusion on the exchange bias of polycrystalline IrMn/({sup 57}Fe + CoFe) multilayers due to the thermal setting process of exchange coupling during field annealing. Depth-resolved {sup 57}Fe conversion electron Moessbauer spectroscopy was used to quantify atomic interdiffusion. Vibrating sample magnetometry was used to monitor the variation of exchange bias and magnetisation. It was found that interface sharpness is only affected above {approx}350 Degree-Sign C. Three different stages for the setting of exchange bias can be inferred from our results. At the lower setting temperatures (up to 350 Degree-Sign C), the effect of field annealing involves alignment of spins and interfacial coupling due to the setting of both antiferromagnetic (AF) bulk and interface without significant interdiffusion. At a second stage (350-450 Degree-Sign C), where AF ordering dominates over diffusion effects, atomic migration and increased setting of AF spins co-exist to produce a peak in exchange bias field and coercivity. On a third stage (>450 Degree-Sign C), severe chemical intermixing reduces significantly the F/AF coupling.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Large coercivity and exchange bias in [Fe{sub 1-{delta}}(FeO){sub {delta}}]{sub x}(TiO{sub 2}){sub 1-x} granular films

[Fe{sub 1-{delta}}(FeO){sub {delta}}]{sub x}(TiO{sub 2}){sub 1-x} (0{<=}{delta}{<=}0.91, 0.34{<=}x{<=}0.54) granular films were fabricated by magnetron sputtering. Large coercivity (H{sub C} = 10.5 kOe) and exchange-bias-field (H{sub E} = 6.5 kOe) at 5 K were found in the film with {delta}=0.84 and x = 0.48. AC susceptibility measurements exhibit a frequency (f) dependent peak T{sub f} in the in-phase susceptibility curve. The fitting of the relation of T{sub f} vs f with both the Vogel-Fulcher law and critical slowing down theory indicate that the evident enhancement of the H{sub C} and H{sub E} can be qualitatively ascribed to the existence of cluster-spin glass state. The results may help to deeply understand the origin of exchange bias and related effects.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

The role of the (111) texture on the exchange bias and interlayer coupling effects observed in sputtered NiFe/IrMn/Co trilayers

Magnetic properties of sputtered NiFe/IrMn/Co trilayers grown on different seed layers (Cu or Ta) deposited on Si (100) substrates were investigated by magnetometry and ferromagnetic resonance measurements. Exchange bias effect and magnetic spring behavior have been studied by changing the IrMn thickness. As shown by X-ray diffraction, Ta and Cu seed layers provoke different degrees of (111) fcc-texture that directly affect the exchange bias and indirectly modify the exchange spring coupling behavior. Increasing the IrMn thickness, it was observed that the coupling angle between the Co and NiFe ferromagnetic layers increases for the Cu seed system, but it reduces for the Ta case. The results were explained considering (i) different anisotropies of the Co and IrMn layers induced by the different degree of the (111) texture and (ii) the distinct exchange bias set at the NiFe/IrMn and IrMn/Co interfaces in both systems. The NiFe and Co interlayer coupling angle is strongly correlated with both exchange bias and exchange magnetic spring phenomena. It was also shown that the highest exchange bias field occurs when an unstressed L1{sub 2} IrMn structure is stabilized.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

NiO/Fe(001): Magnetic anisotropy, exchange bias, and interface structure

The magnetic and structural properties of NiO/Fe epitaxial bilayers grown on MgO(001) were studied using magnetooptic Kerr effect (MOKE) and conversion electron Moessbauer spectroscopy (CEMS). The bilayers were prepared under ultra high vacuum conditions using molecular beam epitaxy with oblique deposition. Two systems were compared: one showing the exchange bias (100ML-NiO/24ML-Fe), ML stands for a monolayer, and another where the exchange bias was not observed (50ML-NiO/50ML-Fe). For both, the magnetic anisotropy was found to be complex, yet dominated by the growth-induced uniaxial anisotropy. The training effect was observed for the 100ML-NiO/24ML-Fe system and quantitatively described using the spin glass model. The composition and magnetic state of the interfacial Fe layers were studied using {sup 57}Fe-CEMS. An iron oxide phase (Fe{sup 3+}{sub 4}Fe{sup 2+}{sub 1}O{sub 7}), as thick as 31 A, was identified at the NiO/Fe interface in the as-deposited samples. The ferrimagnetic nature of the interfacial iron oxide film explains the complex magnetic anisotropy observed in the samples.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Origin and control of magnetic exchange coupling in between focused electron beam deposited cobalt nanostructures

We demonstrate the existence and control of inter-particle magnetic exchange coupling in densely packed nanostructures fabricated by focused electron beam induced deposition. With Xe beam post-processing, we have achieved the controlled reduction and eventual elimination of the parasitic halo-like cobalt deposits formed in the proximity of intended nanostructures, which are the identified source of the magnetic exchange coupling. The elimination of the halo-mediated exchange coupling is demonstrated by magnetic measurements using Kerr microscopy on Co pillar arrays. Electron microscopy studies allowed us to identify the mechanisms underlying this process and to verify the efficiency and opportunities of the described nano-scale fabrication approach.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electronic structure, magnetic properties, and magnetostructural transformations in rare earth dialuminides

We report electronic structure, magnetic properties, and magnetostructural transformations of selected rare earth dialuminides calculated by using local spin density approximation (LSDA), including the Hubbard U parameter (LSDA + U) approach. Total energy calculations show that CeAl{sub 2} and EuAl{sub 2} adopt antiferromagnetic (AFM) ground states, while dialuminides formed by other magnetic lanthanides have ferromagnetic (FM) ground states. The comparison of theoretical and experimental magnetic moments of CeAl{sub 2} indicates that the 4f orbital moment of Ce in CeAl{sub 2} is quenched. Theoretical calculations confirm that Eu in EuAl{sub 2} and Yb in YbAl{sub 2} are divalent. PrAl{sub 2} exhibits a tetragonal distortion near FM transition. HoAl{sub 2} shows a first order magnetostructural transition while DyAl{sub 2} shows a second order transformation below magnetic transition. The dialuminides formed by Nd, Tb, and Er are simple ferromagnets without additional anomalies in the FM state.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗