Naoki Shimomura

Isothermal electric switching of magnetization in Cr2O3/Co thin film system

We investigated the magnetoelectric properties of Cr2O3/Co all-thin-film exchange coupling system with Cr spacer layer. In this system, significantly small coercivity (Hc < 50 Oe) was obtained by the Cr spacer layer insertion between Cr2O3 and Co layers. Owing to the small Hc, exchange bias field, Hex, larger than Hc was achieved. It enabled us to observe magnetization switching at a zero magnetic field, when Hex was reversed by magnetoelectric effect of Cr2O3 layer. Finally, we demonstrated the isothermal magnetoelectric switching of magnetization in the Cr2O3/Cr/Co all-thin-film system. By changing the direction of the electric field during the isothermal magnetoelectric switching process, both Hex and magnetization at a zero magnetic field were reversed back and forth, i.e., isothermal magnetization switching by an electric field was achieved.

Observation of magnetoelectric effect in Cr2O3/Pt/Co thin film system

We investigate the magnetic, electric, and magnetoelectric properties of a Cr2O3 thin film system that was deposited by radiofrequency magnetron sputtering. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility of our Cr2O3 film is similar to that of bulk Cr2O3, which indicates a small oxygen non-stoichiometry in the film. The Cr2O3 film exhibits high AC resistivity (∼109 Ω cm) and low leakage current (4.0 × 10−5 A/cm2 at E = 80 kV/cm). Finally, we demonstrate magnetoelectric switching of the exchange bias using the Cr2O3/Pt/Co all-thin-film system. By changing the direction of the electric field during the magnetoelectric field cooling process, the exchange bias field was changed symmetrically from −160 Oe to +160 Oe, which represents the switching of the antiferromagnetic domain of Cr2O3.

Positive exchange bias observed in Pt-inserted Cr2O3/Co exchange coupled bilayers

We investigated the effect of Pt insertion on a Cr2O3/Co exchange coupling system. The perpendicular exchange bias μ0Hex decreased with increasing Pt insertion layer thickness, and we observed positive μ0Hex for samples with relatively thick Pt insertion layers. We also examined the cooling field μ0Hfc dependence of μ0Hex for the samples. At small μ0Hfc, all samples exhibited negative μ0Hex. With increasing μ0Hfc, a shift of μ0Hex from negative to positive was observed. In the past, similar behaviors were observed for FeF2/Fe systems exhibiting positive μ0Hex. In addition, the μ0Hfc dependence of μ0Hex was well fitted by an equation taking into account the Zeeman energy at the surface of an antiferromagnet as well as an antiferromagnetic exchange coupling. The results strongly suggest that (1) Cr2O3 surface spin is affected by the external magnetic field and (2) the coupling at the Cr2O3/Pt/Co interface is antiferromagnetic.

Morin transition temperature in (0001)-oriented α-Fe2O3 thin film and effect of Ir doping

The structural properties and Morin transition in c-plane-oriented α-Fe2O3 and Ir-doped α-Fe2O3 thin films have been investigated. The enhancement of the Morin transition temperature (TM) in α-Fe2O3 film by Ir doping has been demonstrated. The TM in the c-plane-oriented α-Fe2O3 thin film was determined from the temperature-dependent in-plane magnetization and change of coercivity (Hc); this TM value was found close to that of bulk α-Fe2O3. The spin directions of non-doped and Ir-doped α-Fe2O3 at room temperature were also estimated from conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy measurements. We confirmed that Ir doping dramatically enhances the TM of α-Fe2O3 thin film.

Temperature-dependent perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Co-Pt on Cr2O3 antiferromagnetic oxide

We clarify the origin of the interface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) at the Cr2O3/ferromagnet interface by investigating the temperature dependence of the magnetic properties of Cr2O3/Co-Pt. We observed positive large interface PMA both above and below the blocking temperature of Cr2O3, with the PMA being less sensitive to temperature. Our results indicate that the effect of the metal/oxide interface, as well as that of the MgO/CoFeB interface, contributes strongly to the PMA at the Cr2O3/Co-Pt interface, although the effect of perpendicular exchange coupling might also slightly contribute to the interface PMA.

Néel temperature of Cr2O3 in Cr2O3/Co exchange-coupled system: Effect of buffer layer

The lattice parameter dependence of the Neel temperature TN of thin Cr2O3 in a Cr2O3/Co exchange-coupled system is investigated. Lattice-mismatch-induced strain is generated in Cr2O3 by using different buffer layers. The lattice parameters are determined from out-of-plane and in-plane X-ray diffraction measurements. The Neel temperature is detected by direct temperature-dependent magnetization measurement as well as the temperature-dependent interface exchange coupling energy. It is observed that in-plane lattice contraction can enhance TN in Cr2O3, which is consistent with theoretical calculations.

Grain Growth Effect of Cr

We have observed high exchange bias for a Cr2O3 film, which was crystallized from an amorphous Cr-oxide by annealing in O2 flow. To clarify the origin of the high exchange bias, we characterized the morphology of the Cr2O3 film. From X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy measurements, we discovered that our polycrystalline Cr2O3 film was found to grow not to be entirely random orientation, but to form large R-planes on the surface. That is, R-planes were self-organized during crystallization. Since uncompensated Cr spins exist on R-planes of Cr2O3, the origin of the high exchange bias would be the self-organized R-planes. We successfully explained the peculiar temperature-dependent exchange bias and coercivity of the Cr2O3 film. For the Cr2O3 film, perpendicular exchange bias was obtained whereas out of plane direction is hard magnetization axis. This is because of the oblique Cr spin directions from out of plane direction of the film. The results demonstrated that exchange bias higher than coercivity (μ0Hex ≫ μ0Hc) was realized near room temperature.

_{2}

In this study, we investigated the effect of spacer and buffer layers on the blocking temperature TB of the perpendicular exchange bias of thin Cr2O3 films, and revealed a high TB of 260 K for 20-nm-thick Cr2O3 thin films. By inserting a Ru spacer layer between the Cr2O3 and Co films and changing the spacer thickness, we controlled the magnitude of the exchange bias and TB. By comparing the TB values of the 20-nm-thick Cr2O3 films on Pt and alpha-Fe2O3 buffers, we investigated the lattice strain effect on the TB. We show that higher TB value can be obtained using an alpha-Fe2O3 buffer, which is likely because of the lattice-strain-induced increase of Cr2O3 magnetic anisotropy.

O

A ()-oriented Cr2O3 film was prepared, and the in-plane angular dependence of both its exchange bias (Hex) and blocking temperature (TB) were investigated. By changing the applied magnetic field direction, we modulated the relative angle between the magnetic anisotropy direction of Cr2O3 and the applied magnetic field direction. We found that TB ~ Neel temperature (TN) for a sufficiently large relative angle, while TB is smaller than TN for a small relative angle, reflecting a change in the effective exchange coupling energy. By tuning the applied magnetic field direction, we demonstrated extrinsic control of Hex and TB.

_{3}

Exchange bias from antiferromagnetic (AFM) oxides with a magnetoelectric (ME) effect has been studied for controlling ferromagnetic (FM) magnetizations by an applying electric field. However, thick ME oxides are needed for realizing the electrically controlled exchange biasing. Therefore, in this study the temperature dependencies of the training effect for the Cr2O3-nano-oxide-layer (NOL) are investigated for confirming the ME effect of the Cr2O3-NOL. The anomalous temperature tendencies of system dependent constant for exchange bias and magnetoresistance (MR), κHex and κMR, were observed, which are probably originated from the ME effect of the Cr2O3-NOL because (1) these anomalous temperature tendencies could not be obtained in the CoO-NOL spin valve and (2) the κHex and κMR are defined as the strength of the coupling between FM and AFM spins. It is remarkable result for us to confirm the possibility of the ME effect from the ultrathin Cr2O3 layer (less than 1 nm) because the ME effect was observed in o...