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Robust Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in MgO/Co 2 FeAl/MgO Stacks Induced by MgO over Layer and Annealing Temperature
Author(s) -
Lakshmanan Saravanan,
Muthuvel Manivel Raja,
Delhibabu Prabhu,
Annal Therese Helen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201800316
Subject(s) - materials science , feal , annealing (glass) , anisotropy energy , magnetic anisotropy , surface roughness , analytical chemistry (journal) , anisotropy , magnetization , condensed matter physics , composite material , magnetic field , optics , intermetallic , chemistry , physics , alloy , quantum mechanics , chromatography
Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in Co 2 FeAl (CFA)/MgO stacks deposited on the MgO buffer layer is studied as a function of MgO over‐layer thickness and annealing temperature. It reveals that MgO over‐layer (thickness between 0 and 1.5 nm) improves the PMA of CFA grown on MgO buffer layer. It is identified that MgO over‐layer thickness is a crucial factor that affects the magnetic anisotropy. The maximum effective PMA energy density ( K eff ) of ≈1.22 × 10 6 erg cm −3 is observed at 400 °C. Besides, PMA is also realized for room temperature (RT) films. Moreover, enhancement in the perpendicular saturation magnetization ( M s┴ ) with PMA is effectively induced by the CFA/MgO or CFA/Mo interface and is discussed in detail. The grain distribution and surface roughness are investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) for without and with MgO over‐layer in MgO/CFA/ t MgO (0 and 0.5 nm)/Mo stacks at higher annealing temperature. Therefore, this MgO/CFA/MgO can be an ideal system for the p‐MTJs‐based new generation low power consuming large density data storage spintronic devices with improved thermal stability.