Abstract
The dependence of the magnetization and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) of Ta/CoFeB/MgO/Ta on the thicknesses of the CoFeB layer and the MgO overlayer was investigated by vibrating sample magnetometer. The magnetization is found to be small for samples with a thin MgO overlayer. The PMA strongly depends on the MgO overlayer (hereafter, MgO) thickness and its maximum value of 1.74 erg/cm2 is achieved for a 1.0 nm thick MgO overlayer with annealing at 300 °C. The volume anisotropy of the CoFeB layer is found to be independent of the MgO thickness,which suggest that only the interface anisotropy depends on the MgO thickness. The possible mechanisms that may influence the interface magnetization and anisotropy are discussed herein.
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Lam, D.D., Bonell, F., Miwa, S. et al. MgO overlayer thickness dependence of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CoFeB thin films. Journal of the Korean Physical Society 62, 1461–1464 (2013). https://doi.org/10.3938/jkps.62.1461
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3938/jkps.62.1461