PERPENDICULAR EXCHANGE-BIAS INDUCED BY A DISCONTINUOUS Ru LAYER IN Co90Fe10/Ru/Co90Fe10/FeMn MULTILAYERS

Abstract

A series of Co 90 Fe 10/ Ru/Co 90 Fe 10/ FeMn multilayers were fabricated by DC magnetron sputtering. Our results show that the in-plane and perpendicular exchange-bias fields H ex of the multilayers can be controlled by the continuity of the Ru layer. Increasing the continuity of the Ru layer increases the in-plane H ex and decreases the perpendicular one. When the thickness of the Ru layer is 0.5 nm, the perpendicular H ex reaches as high as 682 Oe. The perpendicular exchange-bias induced by a discontinuous underlayer may be applied in future perpendicular anisotropic spin valves or magnetic tunnel junctions.