Abstract
Antiferromagnetic materials are of great interest for spintronics. Here we present a comprehensive study of the growth, structural characterization, and resulting magnetic properties of thin films of the noncollinear antiferromagnet . Using epitaxial engineering on MgO (001) and (0001) single-crystal substrates, we control the growth of cubic γ- in both (001) and (111) crystal orientations, and discuss the optimization of growth conditions to achieve high-quality crystal structures with low surface roughness. Exchange bias is studied in bilayers, with exchange bias fields as large as −29 mT (equivalent to a unidirectional anisotropy constant of or ) measured in (111)/Permalloy heterostructures at room temperature. In addition, a distinct dependence of blocking temperature on in-plane crystallographic direction in (001)/Permalloy bilayers is observed. These findings are discussed in the context of antiferromagnetic domain structures, and will inform progress towards chiral antiferromagnetic spintronic devices.
3 More- Received 13 March 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.3.074409
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