Element-specific spin and orbital moments and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ta/CoFeB/MgO structures

DOI: 10.1063/1.5129489

Authors: Yu Yan (Nanjing University) , Xianyang Lu (Nanjing University) , Bo Liu (Nanjing University) , Xiaoqian Zhang (Nanjing University) , Xiangyu Zheng (Nanjing University; University of York) , Hao Meng (Zhejiang Hikstor Technology Company) , Wenqing Liu (Nanjing University; Royal Holloway University of London) , Junlin Wang (Nanjing University; University of York) , Iain G. Will (University of York) , Jing Wu (University of York) , Ping Kwan Johnny Wong (Nanjing University; University of Twente) , Jianwang Cai (Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science) , Jun Du (Nanjing University) , Rong Zhang (Nanjing University) , Yongbing Xu (Nanjing University; University of York)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Journal Of Applied Physics , VOL 127

State: Published (Approved)
Published: February 2020
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 16538

Abstract: Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in the Ta/CoFeB/MgO system has been studied using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism and vibrating sample magnetometry. The ratios of the orbital to spin magnetic moments of Co atoms in the Ta/CoFeB/MgO structures with PMA have been found to be enhanced by 100%, compared with the Ta/CoFeB/Ta structure without PMA. The orbital moments of Co are as large as 0.30 μ B 0.30μB , more than half of their spin moments in the perpendicularly magnetized Ta/CoFeB/MgO structures. The results indicate that the PMA observed in the CoFeB/MgO structures is related to the increased spin–orbital coupling of the Co atoms. This work offers experimental evidence of the correlation between PMA and the element-specific spin and orbital moments in the Ta/CoFeB/MgO systems.

Journal Keywords: Magnetic hysteresis; Electromagnetism; X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy; Nonvolatile random-access memory; Magnetic equipment; Thin films; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic fields; Magnetic tunnel junctions; X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Diamond Keywords: Spintronics; Data Storage

Subject Areas: Physics, Materials, Information and Communication Technology


Instruments: I06-Nanoscience (XPEEM) , I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism - scattering

Added On: 18/02/2020 09:12

Discipline Tags:

Surfaces Quantum Materials Hard condensed matter - electronic properties Physics Electronics Components & Micro-systems Information & Communication Technologies Magnetism Materials Science interfaces and thin films

Technical Tags:

Spectroscopy Circular Dichroism (CD) X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD)