1. Rotatable magnetic anisotropy in Si/SiO2/(Co2Fe)xGe1−xHeusler alloy films
- Author
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V. V. Nevdacha, S. M. Ryabchenko, A. F. Kravets, D. Y. Podyalovskiy, A.Ya. Vovk, V. M. Kalita, M. M. Kulik, Vladislav Korenivski, Maria Helena Godinho, A. F. Lozenko, R. P. Borges, and A. N. Pogorily
- Subjects
Models, Molecular ,Materials science ,Condensed matter physics ,Isotropy ,Membranes, Artificial ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Ferromagnetic resonance ,Amorphous solid ,Condensed Matter::Materials Science ,Magnetization ,Magnetic anisotropy ,Magnetic Fields ,Models, Chemical ,Metals ,Sputtering ,Condensed Matter::Superconductivity ,Alloys ,Anisotropy ,Computer Simulation ,General Materials Science ,Crystallite - Abstract
Polycrystalline (Co2Fe)(x)Ge(1-x) Heusler alloy films are fabricated by sputtering on amorphous substrates and shown to possess three types of magnetic anisotropy. The nearly stoichiometric composition of x = 50 m.f.% shows a rectangular hysteresis loop and isotropic coercive and ferromagnetic resonance fields when the film is field-magnetized along any in-plane direction, thus predominantly possessing rotatable in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Higher-x compositions show evidence of two- and fourfold in-plane anisotropy superposed on the rotatable one. A qualitative model of the observed anisotropic magnetic properties is proposed. The model explains the rotatable anisotropy by taking into account dry friction for the in-plane rotation of the magnetization direction in a fine-grained polycrystalline film with the magnetic grain size smaller than the correlation length of the inter-grain exchange interaction. The observed two- and fourfold magnetic anisotropy contributions are attributed to partial texturing of the fine-grained films, even though the films are grown on amorphous SiO2 substrates. These results should be valuable for understanding and controlling the magnetic behaviour of highly spin-polarized Heusler alloy films used in various magnetic nanodevices.
- Published
- 2013