Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in Co-Based Full Heusler Alloy Thin Films

Abstract

Half-metallic Co-based full Heusler alloys have been qualified as promising functional materials in spintronic devices due to their high spin polarization. The lack of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) is one of the biggest obstacles restricting their application in next generation ultrahigh density storage such as magnetic random access memory (MARM). How to induce the PMA in Co-based full Heusler alloy thin films has attracted much research interest of scientists. This paper presents an overview of recent progress in this research area. We hope that this paper would provide some guidance and ideas to develop highly spin-polarized Co-based Heusler alloy thin films with PMA.