Application of Magnetic Force Microscopy for Investigation of Epitaxial Ferro- and Antiferromagnetic Structures

Gennady M Mikhailov; Anatoliy V Chernykh; Lev A Fomin

doi:10.3390/ma10101156

Application of Magnetic Force Microscopy for Investigation of Epitaxial Ferro- and Antiferromagnetic Structures

Materials (Basel). 2017 Oct 4;10(10):1156. doi: 10.3390/ma10101156.

Authors

Gennady M Mikhailov¹, Anatoliy V Chernykh², Lev A Fomin³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Microelectronics Technology and High Purity Materials RAS, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia. mikhailo@iptm.ru.
² Institute of Microelectronics Technology and High Purity Materials RAS, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia. chern@iptm.ru.
³ Institute of Microelectronics Technology and High Purity Materials RAS, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia. fomin@iptm.ru.

Abstract

Growing of epitaxial Fe₅₀Mn₅₀/Fe/Mo/R-sapphire films was performed with a new configuration of two in-plane easy axes of Fe(001)-layer magnetization in which application of annealing in a magnetic field forms an unidirectional anisotropy. The microstructures made from these films exhibited an exchange bias 25-35 G along an exchange field generated at antiferromagnet/ferromagnet (AFM/FM) interface. Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) experiments supported by micromagnetic calculations and magneto-resistive measurements allowed interpretation of the magnetic states of the Fe layer in these microstructures. The magnetic states of the iron layer are influenced more by crystallographic anisotropy of the Fe-layer than by unidirectional exchange anisotropy.

Keywords: Fe; FeMn; epitaxial microstructures; exchange bias; magnetic force microscopy.