Generalization of a Two-Dimensional Micromagnetic Model to Nonuniform Thickness

Published

June 1, 2001

Author(s)

Donald G. Porter, Michael J. Donahue

Abstract

A two-dimensional micromagnetic model is extended to support simulation of films with non-uniform thickness. Zeeman and crystalline anisotropy energies are scaled by the local thickness, and exchange interaction between neighbor elements is scaled by the thickness of the thinner element. The self-magnetostatic energy is computed by scaling the moment of each calculation element by the local thickness, and adding a local correction to the out-of-plane field to properly balance the demagnetization factors of each element. The calculation of the magnetostatic field for a 10 x 10 x 1 oblate spheroid is shown to be more accurate by the non-uniform thickness model than by a uniform thickness model. With the extended model a 530 x 130 x 10 nm film in the shape of a truncated pyramid with tapering over the 15 nm nearest the edges is shown to have smaller switching field and different reversal mechanism compared with uniform thickness films of similar size and shape.

Citation

Journal of Applied Physics

Volume

89

Issue

No. 11

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

micromagnetic modeling, non-uniform thickness

Citation

Porter, D. and Donahue, M. (2001), Generalization of a Two-Dimensional Micromagnetic Model to Nonuniform Thickness, Journal of Applied Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=150804 (Accessed April 25, 2024)