Nilamani Behera

Anomalous anti-damping in sputtered β-Ta/Py bilayer system

Anomalous decrease in effective damping parameter αeff in sputtered Ni81Fe19 (Py) thin films in contact with a very thin β-Ta layer without necessitating the flow of DC-current is observed. This reduction in αeff, which is also referred to as anti-damping effect, is found to be critically dependent on the thickness of β-Ta layer; αeff being highest, i.e., 0.0093 ± 0.0003 for bare Ni81Fe19(18 nm)/SiO2/Si compared to the smallest value of 0.0077 ± 0.0001 for β-Ta(6 nm)/Py(18 nm)/SiO2/Si. This anomalous anti-damping effect is understood in terms of interfacial Rashba effect associated with the formation of a thin protective Ta2O5 barrier layer and also the spin pumping induced non-equilibrium diffusive spin-accumulation effect in β-Ta layer near the Ta/Py interface which induces additional spin orbit torque (SOT) on the moments in Py leading to reduction in . The fitting of (tTa) revealed an anomalous negative interfacial spin mixing conductance, and spin diffusion length,. The increase in αeff observed above tTa = 6 nm is attributed to the weakening of SOT at higher tTa. The study highlights the potential of employing β-Ta based nanostructures in developing low power spintronic devices having tunable as well as low value of α.

Two magnon scattering and anti-damping behavior in a two-dimensional epitaxial TiN/Py(tPy)/β-Ta(tTa) system

The prime requirements for the spin transfer torque based ferromagnetic (FM)/nonmagnetic (NM) bilayer spin devices are (i) the absence of two-magnon scattering (TMS) noise, (ii) minimum energy diss ...

Effect of Ru thickness on spin pumping in Ru/Py bilayer

We report the effect of Ru thickness (tRu) on ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) line-width of Ru(tRu)/Py(23 nm) bilayer samples grown on Si(100)/SiO2 substrates at room temperature by magnetron sputtering. The FMR line-width is found to vary linearly with frequency for all thicknesses of Ru, indicating intrinsic origin of damping. For Ru thicknesses below 15 nm, Gilbert-damping parameter, α is almost constant. We ascribe this behavior to spin back flow that is operative for Ru thicknesses lower than the spin diffusion length in Ru, λsd. For thicknesses >15 nm (>λsd), the damping constant increases with Ru thickness, indicating spin pumping from Py into Ru.

Antidamping spin-orbit torques in epitaxial-Py(100)/β-Ta

We perform spin torque ferromagnetic resonance measurements on the Si(100)/TiN(100)/epi-Py(100)/β-Ta system. We demonstrate current induced modulation of the Gilbert damping constant, which is about 30% for a current density of 6.25 × 109 A/m2. We show that the observed modulation of the Gilbert damping constant cannot be explained by spin transfer torques arising from the spin Hall effect of the β-Ta layer. An additional mechanism such as antidamping spin-orbit torque resulting from the interface or the crystalline structure of Py thin films needs to be considered.

Magnetization dynamics and interface studies in ion-beam sputtered Si/CoFeB(8)/MgO(4)/CoFeB(8)/Ta(5) structures

The interface roughness, Boron distribution in bulk CoFeB and at interface, Gilbert damping constant (α), and inhomogeneous broadening in ion-beam sputtered Si/CoFeB(8)/MgO(4)/CoFeB(8)/Ta(5) structures are found to be sensitive to the MgO growth process. The ion-assist and reactive growth processes that result in sharper interfaces of width ∼0.5 nm lead to smaller α of 0.0050 ± 0.0003 and 0.0060 ± 0.0002 and inhomogeneous broadening ΔH0 of 3 ± 0.3 and 1 ± 0.3 Oe, respectively. On the other hand, the post-oxidation method results in rough interface and higher retention of Boron in CoFeB leading to higher values for α and ΔH0 as 0.0080 ± 0.0006 and 5 ± 0.3 Oe, respectively.

Capping Layer (CL) Induced Antidamping in CL/Py/β-W System (CL: Al, β-Ta, Cu, β-W)

For achieving ultrafast switching speed and minimizing dissipation losses, the spin-based data storage device requires a control on effective damping (αeff) of nanomagnetic bits. Incorporation of interfacial antidamping spin orbit torque (SOT) in spintronic devices therefore has high prospects for enhancing their performance efficiency. Clear evidence of such an interfacial antidamping is found in Al capped Py(15 nm)/β-W(tW)/Si (Py = Ni81Fe19 and tW = thickness of β-W), which is in contrast to the increase of αeff (i.e., damping) usually associated with spin pumping as seen in Py(15 nm)/β-W(tW)/Si system. Because of spin pumping, the interfacial spin mixing conductance (g↑↓) at Py/β-W interface and spin diffusion length (λSD) of β-W are found to be 1.63(±0.02) × 1018 m-2 (1.44(±0.02) × 1018 m-2) and 1.42(±0.19) nm (1.00(±0.10) nm) for Py(15 nm)/β-W(tW)/Si (β-W(tW)/Py(15 nm)/Si) bilayer systems. Other different nonmagnetic capping layers (CL), namely, β-W(2 nm), Cu(2 nm), and β-Ta(2,3,4 nm) were also grown over the same Py(15 nm)/β-W(tW). However, antidamping is seen only in β-Ta(2,3 nm)/Py(15 nm)/β-W(tW)/Si. This decrease in αeff is attributed to the interfacial Rashba like SOT generated by nonequilibrium spin accumulation subsequent to the spin pumping. Contrary to this, when interlayer positions of Py(15 nm) and β-W(tW) is interchanged irrespective of the fixed top nonmagnetic layer, an increase of αeff is observed, which is ascribed to spin pumping from Py to β-W layer.

Growth and dynamic magnetization study of Co2MnAl full Heusler alloy thin films

Structural and dynamic magnetization properties of Co2MnAl (CMA) full Heusler alloy thin films grown on Si (100) substrates at different substrate temperatures (T-s) room temperature (RT), 200 degr ...

Effect of post-annealing on the magnetic properties of sputtered Mn56Al44 thin films

Mn56Al44 (MnAl) thin films of constant thickness (∼30nm) were grown on naturally oxidized Si substrates using DC-magnetron sputtering. Effect of deposition parameters such as sputtering power, substrate temperature (Ts), and post-annealing temperature have been systematically invstigated. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the presence of mixed phases, namely the τ- and β-MnAl. The highest saturation magnetization (MS) was found to be 65emu/cc using PPMS-VSM in film grown at Ts=500°C. The magnetic ordering was found to get significantly improved by performing post-annealing of these as-grwon at 400°C for 1 hr in the presence of out-of-plane magnetic field of ∼1500Oe in vacuum. In particular, at room temperature (RT), the MS got enhanced after magnetic annealing from 65emu/cc to 500 emu/cc in MnAl films grown at Ts=500°C. This sample exhibited a magneto-resistance of ∼1.5% at RT. The tuning of the structural and magnetic properties of MnAl binary alloy thin films as established here by varying the growth parameters is critical with regards to the prospective applications of MnAl, a metastable ferromagnetic system which possesses the highest perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at RT till date.Mn56Al44 (MnAl) thin films of constant thickness (∼30nm) were grown on naturally oxidized Si substrates using DC-magnetron sputtering. Effect of deposition parameters such as sputtering power, substrate temperature (Ts), and post-annealing temperature have been systematically invstigated. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the presence of mixed phases, namely the τ- and β-MnAl. The highest saturation magnetization (MS) was found to be 65emu/cc using PPMS-VSM in film grown at Ts=500°C. The magnetic ordering was found to get significantly improved by performing post-annealing of these as-grwon at 400°C for 1 hr in the presence of out-of-plane magnetic field of ∼1500Oe in vacuum. In particular, at room temperature (RT), the MS got enhanced after magnetic annealing from 65emu/cc to 500 emu/cc in MnAl films grown at Ts=500°C. This sample exhibited a magneto-resistance of ∼1.5% at RT. The tuning of the structural and magnetic properties of MnAl binary alloy thin films as established here by varying the growth ...

Tunneling Magneto-resistance in grain boundary tailored Fe3O4 nano structured thin films

The pulse DC sputtered nanostructured Fe3O4 thin films have been subjected to hydrocarbon treatment and vacuum annealing to investigate their effect on grain boundaries. Remarkably, this treatment causes a change in the crystallographic structure of the film from polycrystalline to (440) oriented one and enhancement in film conductivity. Hopping conduction mechanism changes to nearest-neighbor hoping above Verwey transition temperature of 110 K on treatment. Treatment also leads to grain boundary modification by incorporation of antiferro defects that inhibit an increase in MR despite enhanced electron conduction across grain boundaries. Our results follow the non-homogeneous grain boundary model.

Thickness dependence ferromagnetic resonance in Ta/Ni81Fe19 bilayer nanostructures

Broadband in-plane ferromagnetic resonance was performed in Ta/Ni81Fe19 (Py) bilayer nanostructure in which the thickness of both Ta and Py layers has been varied in the range comparable to spin diffusion length λSD of normal metal. The ratio of symmetric Lorentzian to anti-symmetric Lorentzian peaks decreases from 12.22 to 1.28. We have shown that both Spin Hall Effect and spin pumping increase and total Gilbert damping constant α increases with decrease in thickness of bilayer.