Increase in coercive field by magnetoelastic coupling in Co/VO2 films

Won Jun Jung, Joonghoe Dho

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Herein, a ferromagnetic cobalt (Co) film was deposited on a VO2 film exhibiting a structural phase transition from monoclinic to tetragonal at ~340 K to investigate the magnetoelastic effect caused by a phase-transition-induced strain. First, (100) and (101) VO2 films with thicknesses of 11-43 nm were grown on Al2O3 using pulsed laser deposition, and 2.5-nm-thick Co films were deposited on top of them via sputtering. The magneto-optic Kerr effect hysteresis loops were measured with the temperature variation across the structural phase transition temperature of VO2. Upon heating, an increase in the coercive field of the Co layer was observed at the structural phase transition temperature of VO2, suggesting a magnetoelastic coupling between the Co and VO2 layers. The coercive field increment diminished with decreasing VO2 thickness, and it disappeared as the VO2 became thinner than a critical value of ~11 nm. These results imply that a phase-transition-induced strain in the VO2 layer can be used to change the coercive field of the neighboring magnetic layer.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)126-132
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Magnetics
Volume25
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020

Keywords

  • Magnetic film
  • Magnetoelastic coupling
  • Structural phase transition
  • VO

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