Engineered magnetization and exchange stiffness in direct-write Co–Fe nanoelements

Media with engineered magnetization are essential building blocks in magnonics, spintronics, and superconductivity. However, the established thin film and lithographic techniques insufficiently suit the realization of planar components with on-demand-tailored magnetization in the lateral dimension. Here, we demonstrate the engineering of the magnetic properties of CoFe-based nanodisks fabricated by the mask-less technique of focused electron beam-induced deposition (FEBID). The material composition in the nanodisks is tuned in situ via the e-beam waiting time in the FEBID process and their post-growth irradiation with Ga ions. The saturation magnetization Ms and exchange stiffness A of the disks are deduced from perpendicular spin-wave resonance measurements. The achieved Ms variation in the broad range from 720 emu/cm3 to 1430 emu/cm3 continuously bridges the gap between the Ms values of widely used magnonic materials such as Permalloy and CoFeB. The presented approach paves the way toward nanoscale 2D and 3D systems with controllable space-varied magnetic properties.