Factors Affecting Exchange Bias in Polycrystalline Metallic Thin Films

We describe the factors which control the measured value of exchange bias (HEX ) in bilayers consisting of sputtered metallic thin films of an antiferromagnet (AF) in contact with a ferromagnetic (F) layer. Experimental measurements show that the value of HEX is determined by the grain volume distribution which limits the exchange bias via small grains which are thermally unstable, and large grains which cannot be set when the system is field annealed to set the AF at temperatures below TN . All the results are interpreted in terms of a granular model where the energy barrier to reversal within the AF is grain volume dependent. We show how this affects setting in metallic AFs at T

Keywords:

• Thin film
• Crystallite
• Exchange bias
• Metallurgy
• Materials science
• Inorganic chemistry
• Metal
• metallic thin films

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