0000000001068863
AUTHOR
B. Leven
Magneto-optical characterization of single crystalline Co2FeAl0.4Si0.6thin films on MgO(1 0 0) substrates with Cr and MgO seed layers
We report on the experimental investigation of the influence of a seed layer on the magnetic properties of the full-Heusler alloy Co2FeAl0.4Si0.6 (CFAS). The studied magnetic films are grown epitaxially on MgO (1 0 0) substrates with Cr and/or MgO seed layers. By employing magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometry we show that magnetic anisotropy can be tuned by choosing the proper seed layer. The results on CFAS show an overall uniaxial anisotropy plus a biaxial contribution which depends on the seed layer. In addition, if grown on MgO, a sharp increase in the coercive field HC at a series of angles symmetric with respect to the easy axis is present. Scanning Kerr-microscope imaging is perf…
Influence of the MgO barrier thickness on the lifetime characteristics of magnetic tunnelling junctions for sensors
Magnetic tunnelling junctions increasingly enter the market for magnetic sensor applications. Thus, technological parameters such as the lifetime characteristics become more and more important. Here, an analysis of the lifetime characteristics of magnetic tunnelling junctions using the Weibull statistical distribution for CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB junctions is presented. The Weibull distribution is governed by two parameters, the characteristic lifetime η of the population and the shape parameter β, which gives information about the presence of an infant mortality. The suitability of the Weibull distribution is demonstrated for the description of dielectric breakdown processes in MgO-based tunnelling…