Thermal activation effects on the exchange bias in ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic

nanostructures (Citations: 1) 
V. Baltz, J. Sort, B. Rodmacq, B. Dieny, S. Landis
The hysteresis loop shift HE of sub- 100-nm ferromagnetic- (FM-)
antiferromagnetic (AFM) nanostructures is found to be strongly influenced
by thermal activation effects. These effects, which tend to reduce HE , are
more pronounced in the nanostructures than in continuous films with the same
composition, particularly for thin AFM layers. In addition, the reduced
dimensions of the nanostructures also impose spatial constraints to the AFM
domain size, particularly for thick AFM layers. This favors an enhancement of
HE . Due to the interplay between these two competing effects, the loop shift in
the dots can be either larger or smaller than in the continuous films with the
same composition, depending on both the AFM thickness and temperature. A
temperature-AFM thickness phase diagram, separating the conditions resulting
in larger or smaller HE in the nanostructures with respect to continuous film is
derived.
Journal: Physical Review B - PHYS REV B , vol. 72, no. 10, 2005

Tailoring Size Effects on the Exchange Bias in Ferromagnetic-Antiferromagnetic

<100 nm Nanostructures  (Citations: 3) 
V. Baltz, J. Sort, S. Landis, B. Rodmacq, B. Dieny
The hysteresis loop shift in sub-100 nm ferromagnetic- (FM-)antiferromagnetic
(AFM) nanostructures can be either enhanced or reduced with respect to
continuous films with the same composition, with varying the AFM layer
thickness. An enhancement of the coercivity and a reduction of the blocking
temperature are also observed. These effects are mainly ascribed to the
physical limitations that the dot sizes impose on the AFM domain size and the
concomitant weakening of the pinning strength exerted by the AFM
during magnetization reversal of the FM.
Journal: Physical Review Letters - PHYS REV LETT , vol. 94, no. 11, 2005

Tailoring perpendicular exchange bias in [Pt/Co]-IrMn multilayers  (Citations: 9) 

J. Sort, V. Baltz, F. Garcia, B. Rodmacq, B. Dieny
In [Pt/Co] multilayers (ML) exchange coupled to IrMn, the magnitudes of
the exchange bias field HE and coercivity HC measured along the
perpendicular to film direction, can be tailored by (i) varying the thickness of the
Co layers (tCo) inside the ML and/or (ii) inserting a Pt spacer between the ML
and the antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer. An unusual peak in the ferromagnetic
(FM) thickness dependence of exchange bias properties is observed. This is
ascribed to a reduction of the perpendicular effective magnetic anisotropy for
either very small or too large values of tCo . Moreover, for low values of tCo ,
the insertion of an ultrathin Pt spacer between the [Pt/Co] ML and the IrMn
brings about a significant increase of HE and HC . However, such an effect is
not observed for thicker Co layers. This behavior is explained by the two-fold
role of the Pt spacer, i.e., it strengthens the perpendicular orientation of the Co
magnetization in the ML but it also tends to reduce exchange bias due to the
short-range character of the FM-AFM interactions.
Journal: Physical Review B - PHYS REV B , vol. 71, no. 5, pp. 54411-054411,
2005

Out-of-plane exchange bias in [Pt/Co]-IrMn bilayers sputtered on prepatterned

nanostructures  
A. Bollero, V. Baltz, B. Rodmacq, B. Dieny, S. Landis, J. Sort
Exchange bias effects along the out-of-plane direction have been investigated
in arrays of 100 nm nanostructures prepared on top of prepatterned substrates,
consisting of a ferromagnetic [Pt/Co] multilayer with out-of-plane anisotropy
exchange coupled to an antiferromagnetic IrMn layer. A significant loop shift is
observed in these nanostructures (dots and trenches). The relative evolutions of
the bias fields with the IrMn thickness in the nanostructures and in the
continuous film are ascribed to both the effects of the IrMn domain size and
thermal activation. Lower coordinated spins in the trenches and at the dot
edges are assumed to play a key role on the bias properties. A reduction of the
blocking temperature is observed for both the dots and the trenches with
respect to the continuous film.
Journal: Applied Physics Letters - APPL PHYS LETT , vol. 89, no. 15, pp. 2502-
152502, 2006

Exchange Bias in Annealed [Pt/Co]/NiFe Systems  (Citations: 1) 

A. Bollero, L. D. Buda-Prejbeanu, V. Baltz, B. Rodmacq, B. Dieny
Exchange bias without antiferromagnetic layer was observed in systems
consisting of two exchange coupled ferromagnetic materials: (Pt/Co)n multilayer
(with out-of-plane anisotropy) and permalloy, NiFe, (with in-plane anisotropy).
We investigated the influence of various parameters on this phenomenon: Pt
buffer layer thickness, number of repeats in the multilayer, thickness of the NiFe
layer. Annealing yields a doubling in the magnitude of the loop shift as a result
of an improved texture and mosaicity of the films
Journal: IEEE Transactions on Magnetics - IEEE TRANS MAGN , vol. 42, no.
10, pp. 2990-2992, 2006

Comment on ``Size-dependent scaling of perpendicular exchange bias in magnetic

nanostructures'' 
V. Baltz, A. Bollero, B. Rodmacq, B. Dieny, J. Sort
From results at one given temperature (300K) , Malinowski [Phys. Rev. B 75,
012413 (2007)] draw the conclusion that lateral confinement of ferromagnetic-
antiferromagnetic exchange-biased structures does not enhance thermally
activated unpinning of the antiferromagnetic spins, which would thus contrast
with a recent report [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 117201 (2005)], as explicitly
mentioned in their manuscript. In this Comment, we discuss why such a
conclusion might need revision above a ``crossover temperature,'' as evidenced
in the literature. The value of such a crossover temperature certainly depends
on the magnetic parameters of each system studied, e.g., anisotropy and
exchange stiffness. From the above reasons, and contrary to the statement of
Malinowski , we rather think that their results might well agree with the report to
which they refer to. In our Comment we notably aim at complementing the
conclusion of Malinowski by explaining why some differences between the two
studies are observed at one given temperature, and why it might be expected to
observe similar trends over a whole range of temperatures.
Journal: Physical Review B - PHYS REV B , vol. 77, no. 1, 2008

Structural analysis and magnetic properties of (Pt/Co)3/PttPt/IrMn

multilayers  (Citations: 1) 
L. Lechevallier, A. Zarefy, R. Lardé, H. Chiron, J.-M. Le Breton, V. Baltz, B.
Rodmacq, B. Dieny
Structural and magnetic investigations of
Ta3nm/[(Pt2nm/Co0.4nm)3/PttPt/IrMn7nm]7/Pt10nm multilayers with tPt=0 and
tPt=0.4nm have been carried out using x-ray reflectometry, tomographic atom
probe, and superconducting quantum interferencedevice magnetometry. The
structural investigations show that the Co/IrMn interface is more diffuse in the
absence of the Pt spacer. The consequences on the magnetic properties are
discussed. The exchange-bias field and the anisotropy direction of these two
specimens are analyzed in comparison to
Ta3nm/[(Pt2nm/Co0.4nm)3/PttPt/IrMn7nm]/Pt10nm multilayers containing only
one ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic repeat and correlated with the structural
investigations.
Journal: Physical Review B - PHYS REV B , vol. 79, no. 17, 2009

Influence of edges on the exchange bias properties of

ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic nanodots
V. Baltz, G. Gaudin, P. Somani, B. Dieny
For ferromagnetic (F)/antiferromagnetic (AF) nanodots contributions of AF spins
to exchange bias is discussed. The relative weights of AF entities located at the
dot edges, at the F/AF interface and in the AF grains were obtained by
comparing the blocking temperature distribution of an array of nanodots with
that of corresponding continuous film. Due to grain cutting, the ...
Journal: Applied Physics Letters - APPL PHYS LETT , vol. 96, 2010

Influence of Co layer thickness on the structural and magnetic properties of

multilayers  
A Zarefy, L Lechevallier, R Lardé, H Chiron, J-M Le Breton, V Baltz, B
Rodmacq, B Dieny
The correlated effects of the insertion of a Pt spacer between ferromagnetic and
antiferromagnetic layers and of the variation of the Co layers' thickness on the
structural and magnetic properties of multilayers have been studied. Samples
with n = 1 and 7, tCo = 0.4 and 0.6 nm, tPt = 0 and 0.4 nm have been
investigated by tomographic atom probe and superconducting quantum
interference device magnetometry. For spacer-free samples (tPt = 0), the
structural investigation shows that when tCo = 0.4 nm, Mn and Ir atoms diffuse
deeply into the (Pt/Co)3 multilayers. In contrast for tCo = 0.6 nm, the Mn and Ir
diffusion is much reduced. Because Pt acts as a barrier against the Mn and Ir
diffusion, this difference is less pronounced in samples with Pt insertion. The
hysteresis loops shapes, the exchange bias fields and the saturation
magnetization values were correlated with thestructural properties of these
samples and discussed, taking into account the susceptibility, exchange
stiffness and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.
Journal: Journal of Physics D-applied Physics - J PHYS-D-APPL PHYS , vol.
43, no. 21, 2010

Influence of Pt as Mn diffusion barrier on the distribution of blocking temperature

in Co/(Pt)/IrMn exchange biased layers  
V. Baltz, B. Dieny
Many spintronic devices such as thermally-assisted magnetic random
access memories take advantage of the
ferromagnetic(F)/antiferromagnetic(AF) interaction to pin the magnetization of a
reference layer. However, they suffer from detrimental blocking temperatures
distributions from memory cell to memory cell. A low-temperature contribution to
the distribution was ascribed to spin-glass like regions which are randomly
spread over the film. We report on an attempt to reduce the amount of these
spin-glass like regions due to interdiffusion of species by adding a diffusion
barrier at the F/AF interface.
Journal: Journal of Applied Physics - J APPL PHYS , vol. 109, 2011

Effect of Top, Bottom, On and Off-Axis Deposition on the Blocking Temperature

Distributions of Exchange Biased Bilayers  
V. Baltz, S. Auffret, B. Dieny
Journal: IEEE Transactions on Magnetics - IEEE TRANS MAGN , vol. 47, no.
10, pp. 3308-3311, 2011

Origin and control of exchange-bias-like phenomenon in coupled ferromagnetic

[Pt/Co]/NiFe bilayers  
A. Bollero, V. Baltz, L. D. Buda-Prejbeanu, B. Rodmacq, B. Dieny
Domain formation in a [Pt/Co] multilayer with out-of-plane anisotropy leads to a
shift of the hysteresis loop of an adjacent NiFethin film with in-plane
anisotropy in an analogous manner to the exchange-bias phenomenon typically
observed in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic systems. This paper shows that
the loop shift can be gradually tuned through modification of the magnitude of
the perpendicular anisotropy of the [Pt/Co]/NiFe system by simply varying the
thickness of an underlying Pt buffer layer. Magnetometry, magnetotransport,
and magnetic force microscopy experimental measurements were made. It
appears that the key parameter which controls the exchange-bias effect in this
system is the presence of a vortex core in between magnetic domains in the
[Pt/Co] multilayer. The magnitude of the exchange-bias is related to the ability
to unpin this vortex core, which is related to the magnitude of the perpendicular
anisotropy. Micromagnetic simulations illustrate the magnetic configuration
responsible for the exchange-bias phenomenon in this nonstandard exchange-
biased type system.
Journal: Physical Review B - PHYS REV B , vol. 84, 2011
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.84.094423

Effects of sputter-deposition-induced and post-deposition thermally activated

intermixing on the exchange bias properties of [Pt/Co]×3/(Pt)/IrMn films  
F Letellier, V Baltz, L Lechevallier, R Lardé, J-F Jacquot, B Rodmacq, J-M Le
Breton, B Dieny
The effects of sputter-deposition-induced and post-deposition thermally
activated layer intermixing on the exchange biasproperties of
[Pt/Co]x3/Pt(tPt)/IrMn films with out-of-plane anisotropy and deposited under a
perpendicular magnetic field are investigated. The consequences of the
intermixing on the magnetic properties are correlated with atom probe
structural investigations. We observe that Co–Mn and Co–Pt intermixing are
already present in the as-deposited state. The intermixing is more pronounced
for Pt on Co (∼50%) than for Mn on Co (∼10%). It is observed that annealing up
to 200 °C does not result in noticeable further diffusion of Mn in Co. In contrast,
it significantly accentuates the Co–Pt initial intermixing. This enhanced
intermixing leads to a 40% reduction in the exchange bias field. We measured
that this reduction is not primarily due to changes in effective anisotropy or in
saturation magnetization. This is possibly ascribed to a decrease in the mean
interfacial moment and exchange stiffness both due to the observed reduction
in Co content within the Co sublayers.
Journal: Journal of Physics D-applied Physics - J PHYS-D-APPL PHYS , vol.
45, no. 27, 2012