X-Ray Analysis of Oxygen-induced Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in Pt/Co/AlOx trilayer

Aurélien Manchon (1) , Stefania Pizzini (2) , Jan Vogel (2) , Vojtech Uhlir (2, 3) , Lucien Lombard (1) , Clarisse Ducruet (1) , Stéphane Auffret (1) , Bernard Rodmacq (1) , Bernard Dieny (1) , Michael Hochstrasser (4) , Giancarlo Panaccione (5)

1 SPINTEC - SPINtronique et TEchnologie des Composants
2 NEEL - MNM - Micro et NanoMagnétisme
3 Institute of Physical Engineering
4 Laboratory for Solid State Physics
5 Laboratory TASC

X-ray spectroscopy measurements have been performed on a series of Pt/Co/AlOx trilayers to investigate the role of Co oxidation in the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of the Co/AlOx interface. It is observed that high temperature annealing modifies the magnetic properties of the Co layer, inducing an enhancement of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The microscopic structural properties are analyzed via X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy, X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy measurements. It is shown that annealing enhances the amount of interfacial oxide, which may be at the origin of a strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.

Mots clés: Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); X-ray magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD); X-ray Absorption spectroscopy (XAS); Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Domaines: Systèmes mésoscopiques et effet Hall quantique [cond-mat.mes-hall]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Aurélien Manchon, Stefania Pizzini, Jan Vogel, Vojtech Uhlir, Lucien Lombard, et al.. X-Ray Analysis of Oxygen-induced Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in Pt/Co/AlOx trilayer. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 2008, 320 (13), pp.1889-1892. ⟨10.1016/j.jmmm.2008.02.131⟩. ⟨hal-00172426v2⟩