Electric field control of magnetic anisotropy in a Co/Pt bilayer deposited on a high-κ SrTiO3

The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) of a Co (0.5 nm)/Pt (2.4 nm) bilayer film was electrostatically tuned using a high-κ dielectric, SrTiO3, with a back-gating configuration. The Co film was directly deposited onto a SrTiO3 (001) substrate and capped by a Pt layer. The coercivity was enhanced (reduced) by applying a positive (negative) gate bias. The efficiency of the PMA energy modulation by the electric field was determined to be 1300–23 100 fJ/V m, which is 1–3 orders of magnitude higher than the efficiencies obtained in previous studies. The superior efficiency of this system is most likely attributable to the large dielectric constant of the SrTiO3 gate insulator and could be evidence that the PMA energy modulation is induced by charge accumulation.