Modulating the magneto-crystalline anisotropy and the exchange bias field in CoFe/(Co,Fe)O bilayers using ion-beam bombardment and single crystalline substrates

Abstract

We report the effects of ion-beam bombardment on the room temperature and low temperature magnetic properties of ferromagnetic CoFe/antiferromagnetic (Co,Fe)O thin film bilayers. The films were deposited onto amorphous SiO(2) and single crystalline MgO(110)/(100) substrates. Magnetometry showed that ion-beam bombardment was capable of modifying the coercivity and loop shape for the thin film system at room temperature, corresponding to alteration of the effective magneto-crystalline anisotropy field. After field cooling to 50 K, a shifted hysteresis loop was seen for those films containing a proportion of the antiferromagnetic rock-salt (Co,Fe)O phase, with an exchange bias magnitude that depended on the ion-beam bombardment conditions. Our results indicate that matching the substrate with appropriate ion-bombardment conditions provides a promising way to engineer selectively two important types of magnetic anisotropy in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayers: magneto-crystalline and exchange bias. © 2012, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).