Influence of antiferromagnetic FeMn on magnetic properties of perpendicular magnetic thin films

We studied the influence of an anitferromagnetic FeMn layer on perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and perpendicular coercivity (H-C perpendicular to) of the CoCr/Pt multilayers and found that both PMA and H-C perpendicular to can be enhanced by the FeMn layer. We observed an obvious exchange coupling between FeMn and CoCr/Pt multilayers which enhances PMA and may increase the density of pinning sites that can pin the domain wall of ferromagnetic layers and lifts up energy barrier during the propagation of domain walls. This leads to the enhancement of H-C perpendicular to. Moreover, X-ray diffraction results shows that the (111) texture of the FeMn layer enhances that of the CoCr/Pt multilayers, leading to the increase of PMA and H-C perpendicular to as well. This result is of great significance on improving magnetic properties of perpendicular magnetic recording media by using an anti ferromagnetic manganese alloy. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.