Fundamentals for magnetic patterning by ion bombardment of exchange bias layer systems

In the present paper we investigate whether the ion bombardment induced magnetic modifications in exchange biased bilayers are stable in time, whether the direction of the exchange bias can be set to any arbitrary (in‐plane) direction by the ion bombardment and whether the exchange bias field can be changed in successive bombardment steps. These three fundamental characteristics are prerequisites for ion bombardment used for an efficient, practical, and stable magnetic patterning of exchange biased layer systems. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)