Alghamdi, S., Moorsom, T., Al Ma'Mari, F. et al. (5 more authors) (2022) Tuning the magnetic properties of Fe thin films with RF-sputtered amorphous carbon. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 557. 169461. ISSN 0304-8853
Abstract
RF-sputtered amorphous carbon (a-C) offers a simple and cheap pathway to tune the magnetic properties of transition metal thin films for magnetic memories and different spintronic applications. This paper describes changes in the magnetic properties of iron thin films with a-C overlayers. In as-deposited samples, hybridisation and intermixing at the Fe/a-C interface leads to magnetic softening (Liu et al., 2006) [1], with a reduction in the coercive field (Hc) up to a factor of five for Fe/a-C/Fe trilayers, and a 10–30% lower saturation magnetization as a function of the metal film thickness. After annealing at 500 °C, inter-diffusion and graphitization of the carbon layer results in up to a factor five increased coercivity due to increased pinning as shown via Kerr microscopy. Therefore, RF-sputtered carbon overlayers and post-processing can tune the anisotropy and domain configuration of metallic thin films in a synthesis methodology that is simple, cheap and sustainable.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Molecular spintronics; Magnetism; Amorphous carbon |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Condensed Matter (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/S030263/1 EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/J021156/1 EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/K00512X/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jul 2024 09:52 |
Last Modified: | 12 Jul 2024 09:52 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jmmm.2022.169461 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:214205 |