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Scanning Electron Microscopy With Polarization Analysis (Sempa) Investigations Of Multilayer Magnetism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

J. Unguris
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD20899-8412
R. J. Celotta
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD20899-8412
D. T. Pierce
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD20899-8412
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Extract

Mulitlayers consisting of various combinations of 1-10 nm thick ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic and nonmagnetic films have numerous applications in magnetic recording, non-volatile data storage, and sensor technologies. One key aspect to understanding how these devices work is being able to image their magnetic structure. SEMPA is well suited for this job, because of its surface sensitivity and compatibility with thin film growth and surface analysis techniques. This talk will review the SEMPA technique and describe thep use of SEMPA in two examples; one in which the magnetization is imaged while growing a multilayer, and another which examines the magnetization while depth profiling a multilayer by ion milling.

A SEMPA investigation of the magnetic exchange coupling in an Fe/Cr/Fe sandwich is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A wedge shaped Cr interlayer was grown as shown in Fig. 1 in order to measure the Cr thickness dependence of the exchange coupling.

Type
Magnetic Imaging And Its Application To Materials
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

1 Unguris, J., Celotta, R. J., Pierce, D.T., Phys. Rev. Lett, 67 (1991) 140CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Borchers, J.A..Dura, J.A., Unguris, J., Tulchinsky, D.A., Kelley, M.H. and Majkrzak, C. F., Phys. Rev. Lett., (1999) in pressGoogle Scholar

3 Work supported in part by the Office of Naval Research.Google Scholar