• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2000

We studied the exchange anisotropy of Ni-Fe/Co-Fe/Mn-Ir/Cu/buffer/Si multilayers using D.C magnetron sputtering technique. Generally, Ni-Fe/Mn-Ir/buffer(Cu)/Si multilayers cannot pin the ferromagnetic layer for the lower exchange biased field. We got $H_{ex}$ ex/ increased by two times, after using Cu/Ta as buffer layer to get larger grain size of Mn-Ir layer and inserting very thin Co-Fe layer between the Ni-Fe layer and the Mn-Ir layer to get improved grain-to-grain epitaxy relation at the interface between Ni-Fe layer and Mn-Ir layer. The variation of $H_{ex}$ by thickness of Mn-Ir layer in ferromagnete/Mn-Ir/buffer/Si multilayers is different to that in Mn-Ir/ferromagnete/buffer/Si multilayers, because the volume distribution of grain size of Mn-Ir layer and the exchange energy at the interface between the Mn-Ir and the ferromagnetic layers is different for stacking sequence.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.304-304
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• 2011

We investigated the effect of different spin direction of anti-ferromagnetic layer on the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic layer in Fe-NiO and Fe-CoO bi-layer systems. For Fe-NiO system, we prepared the clean MgO(001) surface half-covered with 20 nm Ag films as a substrate for magnetic layers. Then we grew NiO wedge layers on the substrate, and added 8 monolayer(ML) Fe layers on the wedge layer. We examined magnetic properties of the bi-layer system using the surface magnetic optical Kerr effect(SMOKE) and X-ray magnetic linear dichroism(XMLD). From SMOKE measurement we observed the coercivity enhancement due to the set-up of anti-ferromagnetic order of NiO films in both of the Fe/NiO/MgO(001) and Fe/NiO/Ag/MgO(001) system. The most remarkable results in our observation is that the coercivity enhancement of Fe/NiO/Ag/MgO(001) is much larger than that of Fe/NiO/MgO(001). XMLD experiments confirmed the out-of-plane spin direction of NiO layers in Fe/NiO/MgO(001) and in-plane spin-direction of NiO layers in Fe/NiO/Ag/MgO(001), and we concluded that the origin of large enhancement of coercivity is due to the strong parallel coupling between Fe layers and NiO layers. We also confirmed that this strong parallel coupling maintained across the thin Ag layer inserted between Fe and NiO layers. For Fe-CoO system, we prepared Fe/CoO/Ag(001) and Fe/CoO/MnO(001) systems and observed much larger coercivity enhancement in Fe/CoO/Ag(001).

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.963-967
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• 1995

Ultra thin layers of NiFeCo or NiFe were inserted at the interfaces of Ni and Cu to form a multilayer structure. In case of inserting a NiFe layer, the magnetoresistance was about 6%, the saturation magnetic field was 50 Oe and the hysteresis of R-H (resistance-magnetic field) was very small. In case of inserting a NiFeCo layer, the magnetoresistance increased to about 7% but the saturation magnetic field and hysteresis were also increased. The increase of the output under biased magnetic field was much larger in case of inserting a NiFe layer because of relatively smaller hysteresis in R-H behavior.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.196-201
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• 2001

The dependence of CoFe interfacial layer thickness and plasma oxidation condition on tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) in Ta/NiFe/FeMn/NiFe/Al$_2$O$_3$/NiFe/Ta tunnel junctions was investigated. As the CoFe layer thickness increases, TMR ratio rapidly increases to 13.7 % and decreases with further increase of the CoFe layer thickness. The increase of TMR with the CoFe thickness up to 25 was thought to be due mails to the high spin-polarization of CoFe. The maximum MR of 15.3% was obtained in the Si(100)/Ta(50 )/NiFe(60 )/FeMn(250 )/NiFe(70 )/Al$_2$O$_3$/NiFe(150 )/Ta(50 ) magnetic tunnel junction with a 16 Al oxidized for 40 sec using a Ar/O$_2$ (1:4) mixture gas.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.486-492
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• 1999

The purpose of this research was to find out what is the dominant factor determining the $H_{ex}$ and the $H_C$ of Mn-Ir/Ni-Fe multilayers with different buffer layers. Regardless of (111) texture of Mn-Ir layer, all samples showed over the $H_{ex}$ of 155 Oe. We found out the $H_{ex}$ and the $H_C$ of Mn-Ir/Ni-Fe multilayers depend on interface morphology and grain size of Mn-Ir layer at the interface between Mn-Ir and Ni-Fe layers. The dependence of magnetroesistance ratio and coupling field on the thickness of ferromagnetic layer, thickness of Cu layer and different buffer layers have been studied. Maximum magnetoresistance ratio appeared for the sample Ta(5 nm)/Mn-Ir(10 nm)/Ni-Fe(7.5 nm)/Cu(2 nm)/Ni-Fe(6 nm)/Ta(5 nm)/Si. Magnetoresistance ratio may be related to grain of ferromagnetic layer. Coupling field may be related to the roughness and the grain size of ferromagnetic layer in the spin-valve multilayers.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.274-279
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• 2000

The microstructure and thermal properties of the Mn-IriNi-Fe exchange biased multi-layers with various buffer layers and stacking structures have been investigated. The H$_{e{\chi}}$ and the T$_{b}$ depend on the Mn-Ir grain size at the interface between the Mn-Ir layer and the Ni-Fe layer, The (111) preferred orientation of Mn-Ir/Ni-Fe on the Ta buffer layer may promote the values of J$_{k}$ and H$_{e{\chi}}$. The samples which produce the Hex have the epitaxial relationship at the interface between the Mn-Ir layer and the Ni-Fe layer due to the generation of misfit dislocation.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.129-133
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• 2010

Two-layered ferromagnetic alloy films (NiFe, CoFe) with a Conetic (NiFeCuMo) intermediately soft magnetic layer of different thickness were investigated to correlate the coercivity values and magnetization process with the strength of saturation field of hard axis. Thickness dependence of the $H_{EC}$ (coercivity of easy axis), $H_{HS}$ (saturation field of hard axis.), and X (susceptibility) of NiFe and NiFeCuMo thin films for the glass/Ta(5 nm)/[CoFe or NiFe(5 nm-t/2)]/NiFeCuMo(t = 0, 4, 6, 8, 10 nm)/[CoFe or NiFe(5 nm-t/2)]/Ta(5 nm) films prepared by the ion beam deposition method was measured. The magnetic properties $H_{EC}$, $H_{HS}$, and X of two-layered ferromagnetic CoFe, NiFe films with a NiFeCuMo intermediately super-soft magnetic layer were strongly depended on the thickness of NiFeCuMo layer. The value of the coercivity and magnetic susceptibility of the NiFeCuMo film decreased by 25% and doubled relative to that of the NiFe film.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.97-101
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• 2008

We investigated the exchange bias fields at the NiFe/FeMn and FeMn/CoFe interfaces in 18.9-nm NiFe/15.0-nm FeMn/17.6-nm CoFe trilayer thin films as the annealing temperature was varied from room temperature to $250^{\circ}C$ in a vacuum for 1 hour in a magnetic field of 150 Oe. Interestingly, magnetic hysteresis (M-H) measurements showed that NiFe/FeMn/CoFe trilayer thin films exhibited a completely contrasting variation of the exchange bias fields at both the NiFe/FeMn and FeMn/CoFe interfaces with annealing temperatures. High-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements indicated the absence of any discernible effect of thermal treatment on the NiFe(111) and FeMn(111) peaks. The compositional depth profile obtained from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results presented the asymmetric compositional depth profiles of the Mn and Fe atoms throughout the FeMn layer. We contend that this asymmetric compositional depth profile and the preferential Mn diffusion into the NiFe layer, compared to that into the CoFe layer, are conclusive experimental evidence of the contrasting variation of the exchange bias fields at two interfaces having a common polycrystalline FeMn(111) layer.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.570-574
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• 1995

Magnetoresistance of NiFeCo/Cu/NiFeCo/FeMn uncoupled exchange biased sandwiches has been studied. The magnetoresistance change ratio, ${\Delta}R/R_{s}$ showed 4.1 % at a saturation field as low as 11 Oe in $Si/Ti(50\;{\AA})/NiFeCo(70\;{\AA})/Cu(23\;{\AA})/NiFeCo(70\;{\AA})/FeMn(150\;{\AA})/Cu(50\;{\AA})$ spin valve structure. In this system, the magnetoresistance was affected by interlayer material and thickness. When Ti and Cu were used as the interlayer material in this structure, maximum magnetoresistance change ratio were 0.32 % and 4.1 %, respectively. 6.1 % MR ratio was obtained in $Si/Ti(50\;{\AA})/NiFeCo(70\;{\AA})/Cu(15\;{\AA})/NiFeCo(70\;{\AA})/FeMn(150\;{\AA})/Cu(50\;{\AA})$ spin valve structure. The magnetoresistance change ratio decreased monotonically as the interlayer thickness increased. It was found that the exchange bias field exerted by FeMn layer to the adjacent NiFeCo layer was ~25 Oe, far smaller than that reported in NiFe/Cu/NiFe/FeMn spin valve structure(Dieny et. al., ~400 Oe). The relationship between the film texture and exchange anisotropy ha been examined for spin valve structures with Ti, Cu, or non-buffer layer.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.212-217
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• 2002

The pseudo spin valve with a structure of Tl/CoFe(t $\AA$)/Cu(30 $\AA$)/NiFe(50 $\AA$)/Ta, showing giant magnetoresistance properties by utilizing coercivity difference between only two soft ferromagnetic layers were produced by d.c UHV magnetron sputtering system. In pseudo spin valve Ta/CoFe/Cu/NiFe/Ta, the magnetic and magnetoresistance properties with change of CoFe thickness were investigated. When the thickness of CoFe was 60 $\AA$, a typical MR curve of pseudo spin valve structure was obtained, showing MR ratio of 3.8 cio and the coercivity difference of 27.4 Oe with a sharp change of hard layer switching. When the CoFe thickness was varied from 20 to 100 $\AA$, coercivity difference between two layers was increased to 40 $\AA$. and decreased to 100 $\AA$ gradually. It is thought the change in coercivity of hard layer was due to the crystallinity and magnetostriction of thin CoFe layer. In order to improve the MR property in CoFe/Cu/NiFe trier layer structure, CoFe layer with change of 2-20 $\AA$ thick was inserted between Cu and NiFe. When the thickness of CoFe was 10 $\AA$, MR ratio was 6.7％, showing excellent MR property. This indicates 50 ％ higher than that of CoFe/Cu/NiFe pseudo spin valve.