Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Li, Xiaopu
• Ma, Chung T.
• Lu, Jiwei
• Devaraj, Arun
• Spurgeon, Steven R.
• Comes, Ryan B.
• Poon, S. Joseph

Titel

Exchange bias and bistable magneto-resistance states in amorphous TbFeCo thin films

Ist Teil von

• Applied physics letters, 2016-01, Vol.108 (1)

Ort / Verlag

Melville: American Institute of Physics

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Quelle

AIP Journals (American Institute of Physics)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Amorphous TbFeCo thin films sputter deposited at room temperature on thermally oxidized Si substrate are found to exhibit strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Atom probe tomography, scanning transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping have revealed two nanoscale amorphous phases with different Tb atomic percentages distributed within the amorphous film. Exchange bias accompanied by bistable magneto-resistance states has been uncovered near room temperature by magnetization and magneto-transport measurements. The exchange anisotropy originates from the exchange interaction between the ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic components corresponding to the two amorphous phases. This study provides a platform for exchange bias and magneto-resistance switching using single-layer amorphous ferrimagnetic thin films that require no epitaxial growth.