Detection of Pinholes in Ultrathin Films by Magnetic Coupling

Published

January 1, 2001

Author(s)

William F. Egelhoff Jr., L Gan, P J. Chen, Cedric J. Powell, Robert McMichael, R A. Fry

Abstract

When two magnetic films are separated by a nonmagnetic film, pinholes in the nonmagnetic film can allow direct contact and, thereby, magnetic coupling between the two magnetic films. We have studied this coupling by having one of the magnetic films pinned and leaving the other free to switch at low field. The pinning is accomplished with test structures based on exchange bias and synthetic antiferromagnetic layers. Since the pinning strength increases sharply at low temperatures but orange-peel coupling does not, low temperature measurements appear to identify whether an observed coupling arises primarily from magnetic cojpling through pinholes or primarily from orange-peel roughness.

Proceedings Title

Applications of Ferromagnetic and Optical Materials, Storage, and Magnetoelectronics

Volume

674

Conference Dates

April 1, 2001

Conference Location

Undefined

Conference Title

Materials Research Society Symposium

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

akynubyn oxide, copper, magnetic thin films, pinholes

Citation

Egelhoff Jr., W. , Gan, L. , Chen, P. , Powell, C. , McMichael, R. and Fry, R. (2001), Detection of Pinholes in Ultrathin Films by Magnetic Coupling, Applications of Ferromagnetic and Optical Materials, Storage, and Magnetoelectronics, Undefined (Accessed October 12, 2025)