Flexible Antiferromagnetic FeRh Tapes as Memory Elements

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Apr 1;12(13):15389-15395. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c00704. Epub 2020 Mar 19.

Abstract

The antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition occurring above room temperature in FeRh is attracting interest for applications in spintronics, with perspectives for robust and untraceable data storage. Here, we show that FeRh films can be grown on a flexible metallic substrate (tape shaped), coated with a textured rock-salt MgO layer, suitable for large-scale applications. The FeRh tape displays a sharp antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition at about 90 °C. Its magnetic properties are preserved by bending (radii of 300 mm), and their anisotropic magnetoresistance (up to 0.05%) is used to illustrate data writing/reading capability.

Keywords: FeRh; antiferromagnetic spintronics; flexible electronics; flexible magnets; thin films.