PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

This work reports on the magnetic reversal of submicron-sized elements consisting of an CoFeB/Ru/CoFeB artificial ferrimagnet (AFi). The elements were patterned into ellipses having a width of approximately 250-270 nm and a varying aspect ratio between 1.3 and 8. The coercivity was found to decrease with an increasing imbalance of the magnetic moment of the two antiferromagnetically coupled layers and is therefore strongly affected by an increase of effective anisotropy due to the antiferromagnetic coupling of the two layers. With respect to a single layer of amorphous CoFeB, patterned in comparable elements, the AFi has an increased coercivity. Switching asteroids comparable to single layers were only observed for samples with a high net moment. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.