THE EXCHANGE-BIASING IN THE TOP-CONFIGURATION Ni80Fe20/Ir20Mn80 SYSTEM
In this work, top-configuration exchange-biasing NiFe ( y )/ IrMn (90Å) systems have been investigated with three different conditions: (a) the substrate temperature ( T s ) was kept at room temperature (RT) only, (b) T s at RT with an in-plane field ( h ) = 500 Oe deposition during deposition, and (c) T s = RT with h during deposition and postdeposition annealing in the field at T A = 250° C for 1h, with the samples field cooled to RT. High resolution electron cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (HR X-TEM) and x-ray results reveal that the IrMn (111) texturing plays a key role in the exchange-biasing field ( H ex ) and interfacial energy ( J k ). The H ex versus y result shows that H ex increases when y decreases. Since J k = H ex M s y , where M s is NiFe magnetization, it is easy to derive H ex = J k /( M s y ). Therefore, if H ex is inversely proportional to y , with J k / M s constant, we find H ex y = constant. In short, the y dependence of J k is similar to that of M s for each curve. The H c is inversely proportional to y because of the surface pinning effects from the Ta / NiFe and NiFe / IrMn interfaces. Finally, the optimal values for H ex and J k are 220 Oe and 0.075 erg/cm2, respectively.