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

Authors :: Ashida, T.
Oida, M.
Shimomura, N.
Nozaki, T.
Shibata, T.
Sahashi, M.
Source :: Applied Physics Letters; 4/14/2014, Vol. 104 Issue 15, p152409-1-152409-3, 3p, 1 Chart, 3 Graphs
Publication Year :: 2014
Abstract: We investigate the magnetic, electric, and magnetoelectric properties of a Cr<subscript>2</subscript>O<subscript>3</subscript> thin film system that was deposited by radiofrequency magnetron sputtering. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility of our Cr<subscript>2</subscript>O<subscript>3</subscript> film is similar to that of bulk Cr<subscript>2</subscript>O<subscript>3</subscript>, which indicates a small oxygen non-stoichiometry in the film. The Cr<subscript>2</subscript>O<subscript>3</subscript> film exhibits high AC resistivity (∼10<superscript>9</superscript> Ωcm) and low leakage current (4.0×10<superscript>-5</superscript> A/cm<superscript>2</superscript> at E=80 kV/cm). Finally, we demonstrate magnetoelectric switching of the exchange bias using the Cr<subscript>2</subscript>O<subscript>3</subscript>/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 Cr<subscript>2</subscript>O<subscript>3</subscript>. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]