Tuning the Magnetic Properties of FeCo Thin Films through the Magnetoelastic Effect Induced by the Au Underlayer Thickness

Autor(es)

Cabral, Luis ^[1] ; Aragon, Fermin H. ^[2] ; Villegas-Lelovsky, Leonardo ^{[1, 2]} ; Lima, Matheus P. ^[1] ; Macedo, Waldemar A. A. ^[3] ; Da Silva, Juarez L. F. ^[4]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Fis, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Brasilia, Inst Fis, Nucleo Fis Aplicada, BR-70910900 Brasilia, DF - Brazil

^[3] CDTN, BR-31270901 Belo Horizonte, MG - Brazil

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos Inst Chem, POB 780, BR-13560970 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES; v. 11, n. 1, p. 1529-1537, JAN 9 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 2

Resumo

Tuning the magnetic properties of materials is a demand of several technologies; however, our microscopic understanding of the process that drives the enhancement of those properties is still unsatisfactory. In this work, we combined experimental and theoretical techniques to investigate the handling of magnetic properties of FeCo thin films via the thickness-tuning of a gold film used as an underlayer. We grow the samples by the deposition of polycrystalline FeCo thin films on the Au underlayer at room temperature by a magnetron sputtering technique, demonstrating that the lattice parameter of the sub-20 nm thickness gold underlayer is dependent on its thickness, inducing a stress up to 3% in sub-5 nm FeCo thin films deposited over it. Thus, elastic-driven variations for the in-plane magnetic anisotropy energy, Ku, up to 110% are found from our experiments. Our experimental findings are in excellent agreement with ab initio quantum chemistry calculations based on density functional theory, which helps to build up an atomistic understanding of the effects that take place in the tuning of the magnetic properties addressed in this work. The handling mechanism reported here should be applied to other magnetic films deposited on different metallic underlayers, opening possibilities for large-scale fabrication of magnetic components to be used in future devices. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 17/11631-2 - CINE: desenvolvimento computacional de materiais utilizando simulações atomísticas, meso-escala, multi-física e inteligência artificial para aplicações energéticas
• Beneficiário: Juarez Lopes Ferreira da Silva
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa Centros de Pesquisa em Engenharia