Development and understanding of high anisotropy materials for magnetic recording media and spintronics

Patrick Quarterman (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota)

Perpendicular magnetic thin films have garnered plenty of attention due to their desired application in hard disk media, and more recently, their ability to realize non-volatile memory in 'spintronics'. Next generation hard disk media requires magnetic materials with sub 8 nm grain sizes, and high K_u to retain thermal stability at this size, such as FePt. At this scale many of the assumed 'bulk thin film' properties may no longer hold true. I will discuss surface effects on FePt magnetization curves at nanoscale, and our method to remove the observed surface effects. Furthermore, with the promise of spintronic based memories, additional material property constraints must be fulfilled to ensure energy efficient switching. It has been proposed that utilizing energy assisted mechanisms, such as magnetoelastic coupling, may alleviate the current high switching energy needed, but traditional theories concerning magneto-elastic interactions rely on steady state assumptions. I will summarize my experimental work to explore the limitations on such strain modulated anisotropy when applied FePt. Finally, if time permits I will discuss Mn based high K_u materials which have promise to replace more conventional high K_u materials.

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