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MEASUREMENT OF MAGNETIC HYSTERESIS LOOPS IN CONTINUOUS AND

PATTERNED FERROMAGNETIC NANOSTRUCTURES BY STATIC MAGNETO-
OPTICAL KERR EFFECT MAGNETOMETER

Conference Paper · July 2015

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MEASUREMENT OF MAGNETIC HYSTERESIS LOOPS IN CONTINUOUS
AND PATTERNED FERROMAGNETIC NANOSTRUCTURES
BY STATIC MAGNETO-OPTICAL KERR EFFECT MAGNETOMETER

SUMMER PROJECT REPORT

(2015)

Ankan Mukhopadhyay

Department of Physics

Indian Institute of Technology,Guwahati

under the supervision of

Prof. Anjan Barman

Condensed Matter Physics and Material Sciences

Satyendra Nath Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this project report for summer project at Satyendra Nath
Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences(SNBNCBS). I authorize SNBNCBS to lend this report to other
institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research.

Signature of the Student

Date:

The project work reported in the report entitled “MEASUREMENT OF MAGNETIC HYSTERESIS LOOPS
IN CONTINUOUS AND PATTERNED FERROMAGNETIC NANOSTRUCTURES BY STATIC MAGNETO-
OPTICAL KERR EFFECT MAGNETOMETER” was carried out under my supervision, at SNBNCBS,
Kolkata, India.

Signature of Project Supervisor

Date:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Anjan Barman for giving me the opportunity to work
on this exciting and innovative project. As well I would like to thank him for his guidance, patience,
advice and support.

I would also like to thank Bikash Das Mohapatra, Sucheta Mandal, Santanu Pan, Samiran Chowdhury,
Chandrima Banerjee, Arnab Ganguly, Semanti Pal and Susmita Saha for their help, comments and
suggestions.
 CONTENTS
Subject Page No.

Introduction 1

2
Theoretical background
3
Types of Magnetism
4
Curie-Weiss Law
5
Magnetic energies
9
Domain Walls
11
Anisotropy
14
Hysteresis
15
Magnetization Reversal

MOKE(Magneto optical Kerr effect) 18

23
Sample Fabrication
23
DC Magnetron Sputtering
24
Electron beam lithography
25
Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM)
26
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

Measurement technique 28

MOKE microscopy 28

Result And Analysis 30

Conclusion 34

Future Plan 35

Bibliography 36
 INTRODUCTION

Magnetism is a very old topic of research among different scientific disciplines. However,
nanomagnetism is quite new and has become a topic of interest during past few decades. The reason
behind that is not only the fundamental scientific interest but also the huge applications of nanomagnets
in modern and future technology. The scientific communities have already proved that nanomagnets
have tremendous potential to use them as the building blocks for a range of multidisciplinary applications
like nonvolatile magnetic memory[7-9], magnetic data storage[10-12], magnetic recording heads[13],
magnetic resonance imaging[14], biomedicine and biotechnology[15-16]. They also have potential
applications in spin logic devices[17-19], spin torque nano-oscillators (STNOs)[20-21] and magnonic
crystals[22-25]. These nanomagnets are characterized by quite different properties with respect to the
corresponding bulk material, because their size becomes comparable with the intrinsic length scale that
determines the magnetic behaviour of a material. The simplest nanostructure is the continuous thin films.
Right after the introduction of these structures, the technology started to progress very rapidly. The
technological progress with magnetic thin film media started to face difficulties in the 1980s due to the
polycrystalline nature of the films. The physical properties of these media are strongly dependent on the
microstructures of the film such as grain morphology, crystallographic orientation and grain size.
Eventually, it was found that instead of single layer thin films,the multilayer magnetic thin films can
enhance device performance significantly due to the larger grain density as well as decreased magnetic
exchange coupling between the magnetic layers and the grains in each magnetic layer. On the other hand,
Exchange Spring magnets, based on the interfacial exchange coupling of soft and hard ferromagnetic
layers, have emerged as potential candidates for the application in a broad range of fields. Furthermore,
it was also observed that pattering these thin films or multilayers to nanoscale results in additional novel
properties. So scientists started to focus on magnetic dot arrays, antidot arrays, stripes etc. structures.
However, the primary issues with the study of their properties were twofold: 1) fabrication of high
quality samples and 2) extremely sensitive measurement techniques to probe their properties in micro-
and nanometer scale.Recent improvements in technology have allowed us to fabricate arrays of nano-
elements, with high quality. Invention of many other sensitive techniques like magneto-optical Kerr
effect based magnetometers, Brillouin light scattering etc. has helped us in measuring various properties
of the nanomagnets with extremely high precession.
Particularly, the high speed operation and thermal stability of the above devices demand optimization of
various material parameters and understanding and control of magnetization processes at various
timescales. This ranges from quasistatic process such as magnetization switching to ultrafast processes
such as ultrafast demagnetization, remagnetization and precession of magnetization. In this project, I
studied the magnetic hysteresis properties of ferromagnetic continuous thin films, multilayers and dot
arrays with a static magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometer. I have investigated how the material
properties get modified with the modulation in the sample structure. The observations will be important
for the application of these structures in future technologies.

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 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

History of Magnetism :

It was discovered by Oersted in 1820 that a magnetic compass needle was deflected when placed near
to an electric current; this was a breakthrough in the understanding of magnetism that later led to Ampère
observing that the magnetic field of a solenoid being identical to that of a magnet.[1]

Ampère hypothesised that all magnetic effects were due to current loops and that the magnetic effects
in materials must be due to “molecular currents”, attributed to the movement of electrons. However,
the currents predicted by this model were unfeasibly large and a second origin of magnetism was
required. This second magnetic mechanism was spin, postulated by Dirac in 1928, after he solved the
fully relativistic quantum mechanical equations governing the electron.[1]

The spin of an electron is hard to visualise, but has the properties of a small magnetic moment
pointing either “up” or “down”. Within an atom, electrons are arranged in orbitals, with a maximum
of two electrons with opposite spin occupying each orbital (due to the Pauli Exclusion Principle). The
orbitals are further grouped into shells. In all atoms except for hydrogen there is more than one
electron and these electrons can interact with each other as well as with the nucleus, leading to
“coupling”[1, 2].

As outlined above, the total magnetic moment of a free atom has two contributions from each
electron:

1. The angular momentum as the electron orbits the nucleus (strictly, the momentum of the nucleus
relative to the orbiting electron). This is effectively Ampère’s molecular current and is known
as the orbital contribution.
2. The ‘spin’ of the electron itself.

In an atom with more than one electron, the total magnetic moment of the atom will depend on the spin-
orbit (intra-electron), spin-spin (inter-electron) and orbit-orbit (also inter-electron) coupling. The spin-
orbit coupling is weak for light atoms and generally can be ignored in calculating the total angular
momentum. The total magnetic moment can be determined by simple vector addition of the fields.

Important results of this coupling are as follows. When working out the moment on an atom, only
incomplete electron shells (groups of orbitals) contribute. Furthermore, electrons arrange themselves
in shells in such a way as to maximise total spin. Putting these two results together, we see that once a
shell is more than half full, spins begin to pair up within orbitals and the available magnetic moment

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decreases. This underlies the existence of magnetic order in elements in the middle of the 3d series
and the middle of the 4f series.
Types of Magnetism :
All magnetic materials contain magnetic moments, which behave in a way similar to microscopic bar
magnets. According to their magnetic properties,magnetic materials can be classified in five catagories
viz., diamagnet, paramagnet, ferromagnet, antiferromagnet and ferrimagnet.

● Paramagnetism

In a paramagnet[1, 2], the magnetic moments tend to be randomly orientated due to thermal fluctuations
when there is no magnetic field. In an applied magnetic field these moments start to align parallel to the
field such that the magnetization of the material is proportional to the applied field.

Figure 1: Schematic showing the magnetic dipole moments randomly aligned in a paramagnetic sample

● Ferromagnetism

The magnetic moments in a ferromagnet[1, 2] have the tendency to become aligned parallel to each
other under the influence of a magnetic field. However, unlike the moments in a paramagnet, these
moments will then remain parallel when a magnetic field is not applied.

Figure 2: Schematic showing the magnetic dipole moments aligned parallel in a ferromagnetic material

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● Antiferromagnetism

Adjacent magnetic moments from the magnetic ions tend to align anti-parallel to each other without
an applied field. In the simplest case, adjacent magnetic moments are equal in magnitude and opposite
therefore there is no overall magnetization.

Figure 3: Schematic showing adjacent magnetic dipole moments with equal magnitude aligned anti-
parallel in an antiferromagnetic material. This is only one of many possible antiferromagnetic
arrangements of magnetic moments.

● Ferrimagnetism

The aligned magnetic moments are not of the same size; that is to say there is more than one type of
magnetic ion. An overall magnetization is produced but not all the magnetic moments may give a positive
contribution to the overall magnetization.

Figure 4: Schematic showing adjacent magnetic moments of different magnitudes aligned anti- parallel.

Curie-Weiss Law :

According to Weiss, there are two competing energy contributions in a ferromagnet – i) the internal
field or the “Weiss field” which favors parallel orientation of magnetic moments and ii) free magnetic
poles on the surface which cause demagnetization. The competition between these two energy terms
makes the ferromagnet to break up into small domains for the minimization of the free energy. In this
classical framework, the Curie-Weiss law [100] describes the ferromagnetic susceptibility.

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From the law, one can infer that below the Curie temperature (TC), FMs show spontaneous
magnetization. Eventually, Heisenberg , Dorfman and Frenkel managed to find the quantum
mechanical origin of this “Weiss field” – the exchange interaction! This is the consequence of the
antisymmetrization requirement for electron wavefunction.
The exchange interaction is a direct consequence of the Coulombic interaction energy and Pauli
Exclusion Principle. The concept of direct exchange can be explained on the basis of Heitler-London
model of hydrogen molecule. In this model, the wavefunctions of two electrons are written as ψ(r1,
s1) and ψ(r2, s2), where ris’ are spatial and sis’ are spin states. The exclusion principle demands that
upon overlap, the resultant wavefunction must be antisymmetric. This can be achieved by the spatial
or spin part of the wavefunction 𝜓= 𝜑𝜒 where φ is the spatial and χ is the spin part. For two nuclei a
and b, the exchange integral is given by:

The above discussion was for electrons with direct overlapping of wavefunctions, i.e., the interaction is
direct exchange. One can have indirect exchange also. Later, it was understood that on top of these
contributions, magnetic anisotropy and magneto-dipole interaction also play crucial role in determining
domain structures in ferromagnets.

Magnetic energies :

Domains[1-3] are regions of a ferromagnetic material in which the magnetic dipole moments are aligned
parallel. When the material is demagnetized the vector summation of all the dipole moments from all
the domains equals zero. When the material is magnetized the vector summation of the dipoles
gives an overall magnetic dipole.

The most stable state would be that of a single domain where all the electron spins would be aligned
parallel. However, while this minimizes the energy contribution arising from the exchange interaction.
Hence, the energies which contribution to the total magnetic energy of a ferromagnetic materials are the
followings:

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● Zeeman Energy
• Magnetostatic Energy
• Magnetocrystalline Energy
• Magnetostrictive Energy
● Exchange Energy

• Zeeman Energy

In presence of external magnetic field H, the Zeeman energy can be written in the following form

where M is the magnetization. Zeeman energy becomes minimum when the magnetization is aligned
parallel to the applied magnetic field.

• Magnetostatic Energy

If a material consists of a single domain then it behaves as a block magnet (Figure5 (i) below) and so a
“demagnetizing field” must be present around the block. This external, demagnetizing field has a
magnetostatic energy[2] that depends on the shape of the sample and is the field that allows work to be
done by the magnetized sample. In order to minimise the total magnetic energy the magnetostatic energy
must be minimised. This can be achieved by decreasing the external demagnetizing field by dividing
the material into domains (Figure5 (ii)). Addition of extra domains increases the exchange energy,
as the domains cannot align parallel, however the total energy has been decreased as the
magnetostatic energy is the dominant effect. The magnetostatic energy can be reduced to zero by a
domain structure that leaves no external demagnetizing field (Figure 5(iii)). This is the main driving
force for the formation of domains.

Figure 5: Schematic showing how the addition of domains can reduce the external demagnetizing
field therefore reducing the magnetostatic energy

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• Magnetocrystalline Energy

Atomic lattice structure also has an effect on the total energy of a magnetized sample. A
ferromagnetic material has ‘easy’ crystallographic directions along which it is preferred that the
magnetization vector points and ‘hard’ directions along which a higher field is required to achieve the
same magnetization. Therefore, it is easiest to magnetize a ferromagnetic material along these easy axes,
as shown by the schematic below.

Figure 6: Schematic showing the difference in size of field required to achieve the same
magnetization along easy and hard axes

There is an energy difference associated with magnetization along the hard and easy axes which is given
by the difference in the areas under (M-H) curves. This is called the magnetocrystalline energy[2].
This energy can be minimised by forming domains such that their magnetizations point along the easy
crystallographic directions. The ideal material might have easy crystallographic directions
perpendicular to one another as then both the magnetostatic and magnetocrystalline energies
could both be minimised (Figure6 above). In the regions bounding the domains, the domain walls,
there must be a change in the direction of the magnetization. Therefore, it cannot be aligned along easy
axes and so large domains with few domain walls minimise the magnetocrystalline energy.

• Magnetostrictive Energy

When a ferromagnetic material is magnetized it changes length. This is known as magnetostriction[2];

an increase in length along the direction of magnetization is positive magnetostriction (e.g. in Fe), and
a decrease in length is negative magnetostriction (e.g. in Ni). These length changes are usually
extremely small; in the range of tens of parts per million. However, they do affect the domain
structure of the material.

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In iron the change in length causes the domains of closure to attempt to elongate horizontally and the
vertical domains to attempt to elongate vertically . It is impossible for both to be accommodated
and so this causes elastic strain in the material. The elastic strain energy is proportional to the volume
of the domains of closure hence magnetostrictive energy can be minimised by decreasing the size of
these domains. Reducing the volume of the domains of closure also requires the primary domains to
decrease in size and increase in number.

The addition of extra domain walls increases the magnetocrystalline and exchange energy
contributions to the total energy.

Figure 7: Schematic showing the attempted change in shape of the domains (i) and the actual
change,(ii) due to magnetostriction

The actual domain structure is a compromise of all the aforementioned energy contributions.

● Exchange Energy
Let us consider two atoms denoted by i and j and they have one electron each with spins si and sj,
respectively. The exchange Hamiltonian can be expressed in the following form

where Jij is the exchange integral of two electrons. If we consider that both atoms have more than one
electrons, then the exchange Hamiltonian can be expressed as

Assuming all electrons have same exchange integral and omitting the exchange energy between the
electrons in the same atom, one can write

8 | SUMMER PROJECT
 where Si and Sj are total spin of atom i and j, respectively. Considering nearest neighbour
interaction only, the exchange Hamiltonian of an atom i with its neighbors can be written as

If the exchange is isotropic and equal to a constant value Je, then

For a whole crystal, the exchange Hamiltonian or exchange energy will be

The Hamiltonian mentioned above is called Heisenberg Hamiltonian.

Under a continuum model, the summation in this eq. may be replaced by integration over the
ferromagnetic sample.

where m is a continuous vector quantity and A is called the exchange stiffness constant, defined as

where a is the lattice constant. The values of A for Ni, Co, Fe and permalloy (Ni80Fe20) are
9 × 10-12 J/m, 30 × 10-12 J/m, 21 × 10-12 J/m and 13 × 10-12 J/m, respectively.

Domain Walls :

Domain walls[2, 3] are the regions between domains where the direction of magnetization must
change, usually by either 180° or 90.

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°.

Figure 8: Diagram showing domain walls

The width of domain walls is controlled by the balance of two energy contributions[1-3]:

• Exchange Energy
• Magnetocrystalline Energy

The exchange energy favours wide walls where adjacent magnetic dipole moments can be as close to
parallel as possible, whereas the magnetocrystalline energy favour sharp changes in the dipole
moments between the favoured directions in the crystal so that as few dipole moments as possible
point along “non-easy” directions. The actual width is determined by the minimum of the total energy.

The most favourable domain walls are those which do not require an external demagnetizing field.

• Bloch Wall

A Bloch wall[2] is a narrow transition region at the boundary between magnetic domains, over which
the magnetization changes from its value in one domain to that in the next. The magnetization rotates
through the plane of the domain wall unlike the Néel wall where the rotation is within the plane of the
domain wall. Bloch domain walls appear in bulk materials, i.e. when sizes of magnetic material are
considerably larger than domain wall width.

Figure 9: Rotation of the magnetization vector between two adjacent domains through a 180° wall
in an infinite uniaxial material

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• Néel Wall

In thin films a Néel wall occurs, and the magnetic dipole moments rotate around an axis perpendicular
to the surface of the film. These are favourable in thin films because the free poles are formed on the
domain wall surface rather than the film surface, causing a reduction in magnetostatic energy.

Figure 10: Diagram showing the rotation of magnetic moments in a tilt boundary

Anisotropy :

● Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy

The magnetocrystalline anisotropy[2] energy is the energy difference between samples magnetized
along the easy and hard directions. It is important to note that the spontaneous magnetization is the same
for both directions but the external applied field required to reach this value is different. To produce the
spontaneous magnetization the applied field must re-orient the atomic orbital in order to re-orient the
direction of the electron spin; this is due to the spin-orbit coupling. The atomic orbitals are strongly
coupled to the lattice and so resist the change in orientation. In most magnetic materials the spin-orbit
coupling is weak; however in some heavy rare-earth metals the coupling is strong. In the latter case,
the resistance to re-orientating the domains away from the easy crystallographic directions is high and
requires a large coercive field. Such materials have uses as permanent magnets.

The simplest forms of crystal anisotropies are the uniaxial anisotropy in the case of a hexagonal and
the cubic anisotropy in the case of a cubic crystal. For example, hexagonal cobalt exhibits uniaxial
anisotropy, which makes the stable direction of internal magnetization (or easy direction) parallel to
the c axis of the crystal at room temperature. For uniaxial symmetry the energy is given by

Eauni = K1Vsin2θ + K2Vsin4θ + ……..

where K1 and K2 are anisotropy constants, ‘V’ is the particle volume and ‘θ’ is the angle between the
magnetization and the symmetry axis[3]. The K’s are dependent on temperature, but at temperatures
much lower than the Curie temperature of the material they can be considered as constants. Usually in
case of ferromagnetic materials K2 and other higher order coefficients are negligible in comparison
with K1 and many experiments may be analyzed by using the first term only. In the convention of

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above equation, K1 > 0 implies an easy axis. For single-domain particles with uniaxial anisotropy
most of the calculations are performed also by neglecting K2 and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy
energy is written as[3]

Eauni = K1Vsin2θ

where K is usually considered as the uniaxial anisotropy constant.

3 This expression describes

two local energy minima at each pole (θ = 0 and π ) separated by an equatorial (θ = 90)
energy barrier KV.
For crystals with cubic symmetry, the anisotropy energy can be expressed in terms of the
direction cosines (α1, α2, α3) of the internal magnetization with respect to the three cube edges

[1]
Eacubic = K1V(α12 α22 + α22 α32 + α32 α12 ) + K2V (α12 α22 α 2 ) + ………….

where the α1 are defined through α1 = sinθ cosϕ, α2 = sinθ sinϕ and α3 = cosθ, ‘θ’ is the angle between
the magnetization and the Z-axis and ‘ϕ’ is the azimuthal angle.

(a) (b)

Figure 11: (a) Uniaxial Anisotropy: Hard axis along 90o w.r.t easy axis
(b) Cubic Anisotropy : Easy axis along 0o and 90o and hard axis along 45o

● Shape Anisotropy

If a sample is non-spherical it is easier to magnetize with the dipole moments pointing along a long axis.
The field required to magnetize the sample must overcome the demagnetizing field, which is minimised
if it the magnetization lies along the long axis. The magnetization produces surface poles, and the
magnitude of the demagnetizing field decreases as the distance between the poles increases. This
therefore has consequences for the shape anisotropy[1, 2] of the sample: the more prolate a sample

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is, the closer the distance between poles becomes, and the larger the demagnetizing field and shape
anisotropy is.

● Strain Anisotropy

Strain anisotropy is essentially a magnetostrictive effect and because of magnetostriction, strains are
effective in the magnetization direction. This kind of anisotropy often described by a magnetostatic
energy term[1]

E strain = -(3/2) λs σ S cos2θ

where ‘λ’ is the saturation magnetostriction, ‘σ’ is the strain value by surface unit, ‘S’ is
the particle surface, and ‘θ’ the angle between magnetization and the strain tensor axis.

It is important to note that during the fabrication of ultrathin films/multilayers, there can be huge strain
due to the epitaxial growth on a substrate with different lattice parameters. So, this strain induced
anisotropy plays a crucial role in ultrathin films. It is also evident that under strain the symmetry of
the material will be lowered. So, new terms in the anisotropy are expected which may be forbidden in
the unstrained state.

On the other hand, as the magneto-elastic energy is linear with respect to ε, the system tries to lower its
energy by acquiring an anisotropic non-zero strain. This is known as the magnetostriction. The strain
depends on the direction of magnetization and the magnitude is given by the competition between the
elastic and magneto-elastic energy terms.

● Surface Anisotropy

The surface anisotropy[2] is caused by the breaking of the symmetry and a reduction of the
nearest neighbour coordination. Surface effects in small magnetic nanoparticles are a major
source of anisotropy. This can easily be understood, because with decreasing particle size, the
magnetic contributions from the surface will eventually become more important than those
from the bulk of the particle, and, hence, surface anisotropy energy will dominate over the
magnetocrystalline anisotropy and magnetostatic energies. Therefore the change in symmetry
of atoms at the surface of a thin film has an impact on the magnetic anisotropy and the easy
direction of magnetization.

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Hysteresis :

Magnetic hysteresis[1] is an important phenomenon and refers to the irreversibility of the magnetization
and demagnetization process. When a material shows a degree of irreversibility it is known as hysteretis.

When a demagnetized ferromagnetic material is placed in an applied magnetic field the domain that
has a direction closest to that of the applied field grows at the expense of the other domains. Such
growth occurs by motion of the domain walls. Initially domain wall motion is reversible, and if the
applied field is removed the magnetization will return to the initial demagnetized state. In this region the
magnetization curve is reversible and therefore does not show hysteresis.

The crystal will contain imperfections, which the domain boundaries encounter during their
movement. These imperfections have an associated magnetostatic energy. When a domain wall intersects
the crystal imperfection this magnetostatic energy can be eliminated as closure domains form. This
pins the domain wall to the imperfection, as it is a local energy minima. The applied magnetic field
provides the energy to allow the domain wall to move past the crystal imperfection, but the domains of
closure cling to the imperfection forming spike-like domains that stretch as the domain wall moves
further away. Eventually these spike domains snap off and the domain wall can move freely. As the
spike domains snap off there is a discontinuous jump in the boundary leading to a sharp change in the
magnetic flux, which can be detected by winding a coil around the specimen connected to a speaker.
In doing so, crackling noises are heard corresponding to the spike domains breaking away from the
domain walls. This phenomenon is known as the Barkhausen effect.

Eventually all the domain walls will have been eliminated leaving a single domain with its magnetic
dipole moment pointing along the easy axis closest to the direction of the applied magnetic field. Further
increase in magnetization can occur by this domain rotating away from the easy direction to an
orientation parallel to that of the externally applied field. The magnetization of the material at this stage
is called the saturation magnetization. The ease of this final rotation is dependent on the
magnetocrystalline energy of the material; some materials require a large field to reach this saturation
magnetization.

Figure 12: Schematic showing the general shape of the hysteresis curve with some relevant points
marked; Bs, the saturation magnetization; Br, the remanent magnetization; Hc, the coercive field

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 If the external applied field is removed the single domain will rotate back to the easy direction in the
crystal. A demagnetizing field will be set up due to the single domain, and this field initiates the
formation of reverse magnetic domains as these will lower the magnetostatic energy of the sample by
reducing the demagnetizing field. However the demagnetizing field is not strong enough for the
domain walls to be able to grow past crystal defects so they can never fully reverse back to their original
positions when there is no external applied field. This results in the hysteresis curve as some
magnetization will remain when there is no external applied field. This magnetization is called the
remanent magnetization, Br. The field required to reduce the magnetization of the sample to zero is called
the coercive field Hc. And the saturation magnetization Bs is the magnetization when all the domains
are aligned parallel to the external field.

Magnetization Reversal:

Magnetization reversal or switching represents the process that leads to a reorientation of the
magnetization vector with respect to its initial direction.
• Coherent Rotation

A model for the coherent rotation of the magnetization was developed by Stoner and Wohlfarth. The
model assumes that all spins in the system are parallel with respect to each other, at any time. This
reduces the number of degrees of freedom to one; the exchange energy equals zero and the dipolar
energy can be evaluated analytically and is equivalent to a second-order anisotropy. The value of the
reversal field can then be calculated as a function of the angle of the applied field with respect to the
system's easy axis.

Figure 13: Coherent Rotation

• Domain Wall Motion

In this process, domains which are aligned favourably with the magnetic field will grow at the expense
of domains which are unfavourably aligned. At small applied fields the domain walls move through
small distances and return to their original positions on removal of the field.

15 | SUMMER PROJECT
 Figure 14: Domain Wall Motion

● Stoner-Wohlfarth Model

This model is named after Stoner and Wohlfarth, who made pioneering theoretical study on the
mechanism of magnetization reversal in single domain ferromagnetic particle. In single domain
ferromagnet, the exchange interaction holds all the spins parallel to each other. Therefore, the
exchange energy is minimized in this case. The magnetic hysteresis loops and the reversal
mechanism of single domain particles can be calculated by using Stoner-Wohlfarth model. In this
model, the particles are assumed to be non-interacting. Let us consider a prolate ellipsoid with
negligible magnetocrystalline and strain energy. The total energy is then composed of
demagnetizing energy (Ed) and Zeeman energy (EZ), and can be expressed as

……….Eq. 1
where C is a constant, a and b are polar semiaxis and equatorial semiaxis of the ellipsoid. Da and Db are
the demagnetizing factors along a and b. The angles θ, α and φ are shown in Figure14 (a)

Figure 15: (a) Schematic diagram of a prolate ellipsoidal particle with magnetization (M) in a magnetic
field (H). The hysteresis loops of a prolate ellipsoidal particle for (b) applied field along easy axis (θ =
0°) and (c) applied field along hard axis (θ = 90°).

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In equilibrium,

...........Eq. 2
For minimum energy condition,

….....Eq. 3
For a given value of h and θ, Eq.3 always has more than one solution. It is also possible to have
more than one energy minima. For θ = 0°, Eqs. 2 and 3 become

…….Eq. 4
For minimum condition, sin ϕ = 0 and 1 + hcos ϕ > 0.
The necessary condition is ϕ = 0 for h > - 1 and ϕ = π for h < 1. Therefore, an unique solution is observed
for,1>h whereas in region ,1<h there are two valid energy minima for ϕ = 0° and ϕ = 180°. If the field
is reduced to zero from a large enough positive value and then increased to opposite direction, the system
stay in the branch of the solution ϕ = 0° till the field reaches to h = - 1. Though for negative values of h,
the minimum energy state is ϕ = 0°, the magnetization cannot flip due to the presence of an energy
barrier. For h = - 1, the Zeeman energy becomes equal to the barrier energy and the system jumps from
ϕ = 0° state to ϕ = 180° state. The reversal mechanism is shown in Figure14 (b).
When the field is applied perpendicular to the easy axis, then

……….Eq. 5
The solution for minimum energy is cos ϕ = h and this will be valid only if .1<h In this case,
magnetization is proportional to the applied field. For ,1>h the second solution i.e., sin ϕ = 0 gives the
energy minima, and the system is saturated as shown in Figure (c).
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For θ = 0°, the reversal mechanism is irreversible, whereas for θ = 90° the reversal mechanism is
reversible. For other cases, the reversal is partly reversible and partly irreversible. We have just seen
that a finite magnetic field (h) is required to saturate the magnetization for θ = 0° and 90°. For other
cases, an infinite field is required for saturation. This is because when ϕ → 0°, the torque arises from
the external field also approaches to zero for a finite value of H. If an opposing torque is present due to
the finite shape anisotropy, the magnetization is aligned along H only when H approaches to infinity.
Practically particles are arranged randomly. Therefore, the coercive field of individual particles also
varies from h = 0 to 1. Hence, the coercive field of powder sample becomes roughly around 0.5.

● Incoherent rotations
It turns out that reversible magnetization changes continue to occur coherently, whereas the irreversible
changes may be incoherent. Further, the nucleation field for an incoherent reversal is lower than the
corresponding critical field of the Stoner-Wohlfarth model. Consider a prolate ellipseoidal particle. For
values of the equatorial semiaxis b, less than the value

𝛼 √𝐴
bc =
𝑀𝐷
the irreversible changes continue to take place by rotation in unison of the atomic magnetic moments,
as in the Stoner-Wohlfarth model. Here α is a constant about equal to 2, and A is the exchange constant.
For larger values of b the irreversible change takes place by a mode called curling(Fig.16(a)), in which
there is a circumferential component of magnetization that is a function of the distance from the polar
axis. Curling again occurs in the infinite circular cylinder. For smaller radii, there is another mode, called
buckling(Fig.16(b)), instead of rotation in unison. This buckling mode consists of a rotation whose
amplitude varies sinusoidally along the cylinder’s axis. Incoherent magnetization reversal may be
expressed in a particle that is not a single unit. For example, Jacobs and Bean consider that an elongated
particle may actually consist of several spheres attached together to form a linear chain. In their idealized
model the magnetization of each sphere is considered to be uniform in magnitude, only a dipole-dipole
interaction is assumed between the spheres. Then, when a field is applied parallel to the axis of the chain,
the magnetization reverses by rotations of the sphere’s magnetization in opposite direction and this mode
of magnetization reversal is termed as fanning.(Fig.16(c)).

Figure 16: (a)Curling mode, (b) Buckling mode and (c) Fanning mode

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MOKE(Magneto-optical Kerr Effect) :

Magneto Optical effects in magnetic materials arise due to the optical anisotropy of the materials. The
source of this optical anisotropy is the magnetisation M within surface domains which can be influenced
by external forces such as magnetic fields. The optical anisotropy alters the state of linearly polarised
light which is reflected off magnetic materials. These effects are generally known as the Magneto-Optical
Kerr Effect (MOKE) which were observed by John Kerr in 1887, and are analogous to the Faraday effect
where the polarisation of the light is rotated through a transparent material subjected to a magnetic field
as observed by Michael Faraday in 1845.

The magneto optical effects are characterised by the Kerr effect being proportional to the magnetisation.
This makes it particularly useful in the study of surface magnetism since it is highly sensitive to the
magnetisation within the skin depth region, typically 10-20nm in most metals [Bland et al (1989)]. The
effect has been utilised to obtain hysteresis loops or domain images and is a relatively simple technique
to implement. It has the ability to probe the magnetisation in very small regions of a material, such as
wires or patterns [Shearwood et al (1996)], or in real device applications [Karl et al (1999)]. MOKE has
emerged as an important technique in the study of surface magnetism. It has been used extensively to
characterise magnetic materials, especially in the field of magnetic thin films. The Kerr effect is also the
basis of the commercially available magneto optical drives.

Light is a transverse electromagnetic wave which can be manipulated optically into plane, circularly or
elliptically polarised light. Generally, the plane of polarisation is the plane which contains the electric
field E and the direction of propagation. However in some texts [Corson & Lorrain (1970)], the definition
of plane of polarisation refers to the plane containing the B field. Any reference to the plane of
polarisation in the present work will assume the former definition. If the electric field is polarised in the
plane of incidence, it is referred to as p-polarised light. Conversely, if the electric field is polarised
perpendicular to the plane of incidence, then it is referred to as s-polarised light. The plane of incidence

is also known as the scattering plane - the plane which contains the incident and reflected light beam.
Circularly polarised light can be further referred to as L-circularly polarised and R-circularly polarised
light, where L and R signify the electric field rotating in either a clockwise or an anticlockwise direction
with respect to the direction of propagation. Plane polarised light which is reflected off a metallic is
generally elliptically polarised. However if the incident light is either p or s-polarised, then the reflected
light will still be plane polarised upon reflection (p or s) [Hecht (1989)]. This is because the reflecting
surface is a plane of symmetry for the system. This symmetry is destroyed in the situation where plane
polarised light is reflected off a magnetised surface. When p-polarised light is reflected off a magnetic

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surface, the reflected light has a p-component as in the ordinary metallic reflection but, in addition, a
small s-component also appears in the beam. In general, this second electric field component is out of
phase with the reflected p-component. This causes the light to become elliptically polarised with its major
axis rotated from its initial incident polarisation plane.

Figure 17: Polarization of light

made up of the superposition of two circular components, L and R-circularly polarised light. The
magnetic medium has different refractive indices for these two polarised modes. Therefore the two
circular modes travel with different velocities and attenuate differently in the material. Upon reflection
from the material, the two modes recombine to produce the Kerr rotation and ellipticity. The macroscopic
description of Kerr effects relies on the two modes having different refractive indices within the material.
The general form of the dielectric tensor which represents the effects of a magnetic medium is given by

where Qx,y,z is the Voigt magneto optic constant which describes the magneto optical effect. This Voigt
term is to the first order proportional to the magnetisation of the material. It is this complex Voigt
term (the off diagonal terms) which generally modifies the polarisation. Basically, what MOKE
measures directly, is the magneto optic response of the medium, which is a change in the incident
polarisation of the light. This magneto optic response consists of two parts: a change in the polarisation
of the in-phase component of the reflected light which gives rise to the rotation, and a change in the
polarisation of the out-of-phase component of the reflected light which gives rise to the ellipticity.

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There are three geometries for MOKE experiments, the POLAR, LONGITUDINAL and
TRANSVERSE geometries. These arise from the direction of the magnetic field with respect to the
plane of incidence and the sample surface.

POLAR Geometry – Magnetic Field Orientation is parallel to the plane of incidence, normal to the
sample surface.

Figure 18: Polar Geometry

LONGITUDINAL Geometry – Magnetic Field is parallel to the plane of incidence and the sample
surface.

Figure 19: Longitudinal Geometry

TRANSVERSE Geometry – Magnetic Field Orientation Normal to the plane of incidence, parallel to
the sample surface.

Figure 20: Transverse Geometry

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 The electric field of the plane polarised light which is incident upon the material, can be thought of as
exciting the electrons so that they oscillate parallel to the incident polarisation. This gives rise to the
normal component (EN) of light in the reflected light. The additional Kerr component, (EK), arises
because of the Lorentz force. The Lorentz force induces a small component which is perpendicular to
both the primary motion (normal component) and the direction of the magnetisation. Generally, the two
components are not in-phase and it is the superposition of these two components which gives rise to a
magnetisation dependent rotation of the polarisation.

Figure 21: A schematic representation of the Magneto Optic interaction using the idea of a Lorentz force.
The normal component (EN) of light is indicated by the solid lines, the Kerr component (EK)
and the direction of the Lorentz force is indicated by the broken lines.

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 SAMPLE FABRICATION
DC Magnetron Sputtering

DC Magnetron Sputtering is one of the sputtering methods used, which is a method of physical vapour
deposition of thin films of one material onto another material. In DC Magnetron Sputtering a substance
is bombarded with ionized gas molecules that displace atoms from the substance. These atoms fly off
and hit a target material, called a substrate, and bond to it at an atomic level, creating a very thin film.
The source and the substrate are placed inside a chamber filled with inert gas (Ar). Dc voltage is applied
to the diode and the free electrons are accelerated by the e-field. These energetic free electrons
inelastically collide with Ar atoms.

Figure 22: DC Magnetron Sputtering

In DC sputtering, the electrons move faster than the ions because of smaller mass near the cathode.

− The positive charge build up near the cathode, raising the potential of plasma.

− Less number of electrons collide with Ar.

− Few number of collisions with these high energetic electrons result in mostly ionization, rather
than excitation.

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Then the positive ions are accelerated towards the target bombarding the target. The atoms coming out
of the target transport to the substrate due to momentum transfer and also generates a second electron
that sustains the discharge (plasma).Low chamber pressure is maintained in order to have high
deposition rate, since sputtered atoms have to undergo many collisions before reaching the
target.Magnetic Field is also used to confine electrons near the target to sustain plasma. Magnetic Field
is applied parallel to the target surface so that electrons will move in a cycloid path near the
surface.

Figure 23: Cycloid motion near the surface

The radius of cycloid motion is :

Where, Vd – voltage drop across the region, B- Magnetic Field

As a result the current density which is proportional to ionization rate increases by 100 times. The
required discharge pressure drops by 100 times and deposition rate increases by 100 times.

Electron-beam Lithography:
As electron beams have very short wavelength at large enough accelerating voltage, they are used for
patterning smaller features with a very high spatial resolution of few nanometers. The square arrays of
circular permalloy dots with different sizes and separations were fabricated by electron-beam
lithography. First of all, the substrate was cleaned with water, acetone and IPA (2-propanol) respectively
by using an ultrasonicator. PMMA resist was spin coated onto a cleaned Si substrate (100) for 40s at a
speed of 5000 rpm to make a uniform layer of about 1.5µm thickness. Another layer of 1µm thick MMA
was made on the PMMA layer at a rotation speed of 1500rpm for 90s. In this way, the Si substrate was
coated with the bi-layer (PMMA/MMA) resist. The scanning electron microscope (Elionix ELS-7700H)
was used to expose the resist with focused electrons. At first the desired structures were designed in a PC

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using commercially available design software (Auto-CAD). The design files were then converted into the
positions defining CELL files and were uploaded to the PC attached to the lithography system.
Ultimately,the design patterns were written onto the resist layers by accelerated e-beam controlled by the
PC. The beam current and dose time were optimized at 100pA and 0.9-1µs. The chemical etching process
was used to etch out the exposed material from the substrate. A 20nm thick permalloy film was post-
deposited by electron-beam evaporation with an optimized deposition rate 0.3nm/s at a base pressure of
2x10-8 Torr.

Figure 24: schematic diagram of fabrication of magnetic dots array by electron-beam lithography

A 10nm thick capping layer of Silica (SiO2) was deposited by electron-beam evaporation on top of the
pattern dots and resist to protect the sample from further oxidization or degradation during the

exposure of the laser beam during measurements. The lift-off technique was used to remove the
unexposed resist along with the film deposited on it. Ultimately the substrate was dipped into acetone for
12hours to remove residual resists.

SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) :

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to investigate surface topography and morphology of
samples. In a typical SEM, a stream of electron beam is emitted from a cathode either thermionically or
by electric field. We have used both types of scanning electron microscopes. For first case, the electrons
are emitted from an electron gun fitted with a tungsten filament cathode. In the second case, the electrons
are emitted from a field emission cathode. The field emission process produces narrower electron beam
profile, which helps to get a better spatial resolution than the thermionic emission electrons. The energy
of the electrons can be varied from few hundreds eV to few tens of keV. After emission, the electrons are
accelerated by applying a gradient of electric field. The beam passes through two electromagnetic lenses,

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which are called condenser lens (Fig. 25). Finally, the beam passes through an electromagnetic scanning
coil and is focused onto the sample. The scanning coil deflects the beam in the x and y directions (in the
plane of the sample) so that it scans in a raster fashion over a rectangular area of the sample surface.
When high energetic electron beam interacts with the sample, different types of electrons are emitted or
scattered from the sample due to the elastic and inelastic collision of accelerated electrons with the
electrons present near the sample surface. The scattered electrons include secondary electrons,
backscattered electrons, Auger electrons. The energy is also emitted in the form of characteristic X-
rays and visible light (cathodo-luminescence). The secondary electrons are produced by inelastic
scattering of incident electrons with the atoms of the sample. In a typical SEM, the secondary
electrons are detected by a detector. An image of the sample surface is constructed by comparing the
intensity of these secondary electrons to the scanning primary electron beam. Finally, the image is
displayed on a monitor.

.
Figure 25: schematic diagram of scanning electron microscope (SEM)

SEM images have large depth of field due to a very narrow electron beam. Therefore, SEM is capable of
producing three-dimensional images, which are very useful for understanding the surface structure of a
sample. The samples are generally mounted rigidly on a specimen stub with carbon tape. The specimens
should be electrically conductive at the surface and electrically grounded to prevent the accumulation of
electrostatic charge at the surface.

AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) :

The atomic force microscope (AFM) is one kind of scanning probe microscopes (SPM). SPMs are
designed to measure local properties, such as height, friction, magnetism, with a probe. To acquire an
image, the SPM raster-scans the probe over a small area of the sample, measuring the local property
simultaneously.

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AFMs operate by measuring force between a probe and the sample. Normally, the probe is a sharp tip,
which is a 3-6 um tall pyramid with 15-40nm end radius. Though the lateral resolution of AFM is low
(~30nm) due to the convolution, the vertical resolution can be upto 0.1nm. To acquire the image
resolution, AFMs can generally measure the vertical and lateral deflections of the cantilever by using
the optical lever. The optical lever operates by reflecting a laser beam off the cantilever. The reflected
laser beam strikes a position-sensitive photo-detector consisting of four-segment photo-detector. The
differences between the segments of photo-detector of signals indicate the position of the laser spot
on the detector and thus the angular deflections of the cantilever.

. Figure 26: AFM working with an optical lever

In contact mode, AFMs use feedback to regulate the force on the sample. The AFM not only measures
the force on the sample but also regulates it, allowing acquisition of images at very low forces. The
feedback loop consists of the tube scanner that controls the height of the tip; the cantilever and optical
lever, which measures the local height of the sample; and a feedback circuit that attempts to keep
the cantilever deflection constant by adjusting the voltage applied to the scanner. A well-constructed
feedback loop is essential to microscope performance.

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 MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE

STATIC MAGNETO OPTICAL KERR EFFECT MICROSCOPY :

The static magneto-optical Kerr effect (SMOKE) microscope was used to measure the magnetic
hysteresis loops from some arrays of magnetic dots. The schematic diagram of the setup is shown in
Fig. 27.

Figure 27: Static MOKE in longitudinal geometry PBS:Polarized Beam Splitter,

A,B : photo-diode,PA: Pre-amplifier

A CW laser of wavelength ( λ ) = 632 nm was used for this measurement. The laser beam goes through
a variable attenuator. The intensity of the transmitted light is controlled by moving the attenuator
perpendicular to the beam with the help of a moving stage. The beam is then passed through a Glan-
Thompson polarizer with s-polarization. The linearly polarized beam is then chopped at 1-2 kHz
frequency by an optical chopper controlled by a controller unit. The incident beam is focused on the
sample by a lens. The reflected beam from the sample gets collected by another lens. The magnetic
field is applied in the plane of the sample.In this geometry the longitudinal Kerr rotation is measured
by sending the back-reflected beam to an optical bridge detector(OBD). First the balanced condition is

28 | SUMMER PROJECT
attained in absence of any magnetic field by rotating the axis of the polarized beam splitter(PBS)
slightly away from 45O. A calibration of the OBD is done by rotating the PBS by 1 O on both sides of
the balanced condition and by recording the dc output of the detector. When the magnetic field is
applied, the detector will no longer be in the balanced condition (A ≠ B). The difference signal(A ─ B)
is measured at a function of the bias magnetic field and is converted to Kerr rotation by multiplying it
with the calibration factor. The output signal is measured in a phase sensitive manner by using a lock-
in amplifier with a reference signal from the chopper. For the measurement of the hysteresis loops from
a nanostructure, the laser spot is carefully placed at a desired position on the nanodots by using a
scanning x-y-z stage. Sometimes a quarter wave plate is placed before optical bridge detector (OBD) to
convert Kerr ellipticity into Kerr rotation. This is generally done for Ni, as this material has larger Kerr
ellipticity than Kerr rotation. To investigate surface anisotropy of a sample,it is rotated 360 O about an
axis perpendicular to the applied bias field.

Figure 28: Schematic diagram of the sample placed between two pole pieces and can be rotated in-
plane with respect to the direction of applied magnetic field
S : Sample, M : magnetic pole pieces, H : Applied magnetic field,Φ : Azimuthal angle

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 RESULTS AND ANALYSES

Prior to the measurement of any complicated nanostructure, we need to measure the hysteresis loops of
the unpatterned and continuous Co and Ni80Fe20 thin films to understand the modifications in the magnetic
properties with structural modifications. Here we have used [Co (10 nm)/ Ni 80Fe20 (10 nm)] multilayers
with different bilayer repeats and Ni80Fe20 dot arrays with 20 nm thickness, so we have performed
hysteresis loop measurements for Co thin films of thickness 10 nm and Ni 80Fe20 continuous films of
thicknesses 10 and 20 nm. The results are discussed in detail in the following sections:

● Measurement of hysteresis loop for Co(10nm) and Ni80Fe20 (10nm) thin films:

The measured hysteresis loops for Co (10 nm) and Ni80Fe20 (10 nm) thin films are shown in Fig. 29. It
is observed that the coercive fields are respectively 15.4 and 8 Oe. The hysteresis loops are also recorded
for different azimuthal angles of the applied bias field to check for any magnetocrystalline anisotropy
in the samples (not shown here). However, it was observed that the loops are identical for all angles
implying the absence of any significant magnetocrystalline anisotropy in these films.

Figure 29: Hysteresis loops of thin films of (a) Co and (b) Ni80Fe20 with thickness 10 nm

● Measurement of hysteresis loop for [Co(10nm)/ Ni80Fe20(10nm)]n(SiO2)5 multilayers:

Next, we moved to [Co(10 nm)/ Ni80Fe20(10 nm)]nSiO2(5 nm) multilayers and recorded the hysteresis
loops for n = 2, 3 and 6. In these multilayers, the composite of a hard magnetic layer (Co) and soft
magnetic layer (Ni80Fe20) constitutes an exchange spring system, which are exchange coupled at their
interface. They have been found to display characteristic magnetic hysteresis properties with enhanced

30 | SUMMER PROJECT
coercive fields. The experimental loops for these three samples are presented in Fig. 30 and the
corresponding coercive fields are found to be 90 Oe, 110 Oe and 120 Oe respectively.

Figure 30: Hysteresis loops of [Co(10nm)/ Ni80Fe20(10nm] multilayer with

(a )2 , (b) 3 and (c)6 bilayer repeats

As the number of stacks increases the coercive field of the samples increases. This shows a clear signature
of increasing in-plane anisotropy in the sample having exchange spring coupling.

● Measurement of hysteresis loop for Ni80Fe20 (20 nm) thin film and dot arrays:

Before investigating the magnetic hysteresis loops in the dot arrays, we measured the hysteresis loop of
a Ni80Fe20 film of same thickness, i. e., 20 nm. The result is shown in Fig. 31(a). A square type hysteresis
loop is obtained implying that the magnetization reversal occurs by the coherent rotation of spins. The
coercive field is found to be 8.1 Oe which does not depend on the azimuthal angle of the applied bias
field Fig. 31 (b). Hence, in this case also, the sample does not possess any in-plane anisotropy.

Figure 31: (a)Hysteresis loop of Ni80Fe20 (20nm)

(b)variation of Hc with azimuthal angle

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Pattering this film modifies the magnetic properties. To study the effect of the patterning, we fabricated
two different arrays of Ni80Fe20 circular dots.

The specification of the arrays are given below.

ARRAY_1 : d = 300nm ; s = 300nm ;array_size = 42x42 μm2

ARRAY_2 : d = 500nm ; s = 500nm ;array_size = 80x80 μm2

(a) (b)

(c)
Figure 32: Scanning electron micrographs of Ni80Fe20 dot arrays with
(a)interdot separation 300nm and diameter of dot 300nm
(b)interdot separation 500nm and diameter of dot 500nm
(c) Atomic Force micrograph of Ni80Fe20 dot array with
interdot separation 500nm and diameter of dot 500nm
From the SEM images of the samples it can be seen that the coating of PMMA resist over ARRAY_1 is
not removed properly and there is also structural distortions due to the limitation in sample fabrication
technique. However, due to larger dimensions, ARRAY_2 has no such distortions .By AFM, the
thickness, diameter and inter-dot separation values for Ni80Fe20 nanodots in the ARRAY_2 are measured
and the values are found to be close to the nominal values.

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 Hysteresis loops for the dot arrays are measured in static MOKE and are presented in Fig. 33.

Figure 33: Hysteresis loops of Ni80Fe20 dot arrays with

(a)interdot separation 300nm and diameter of dot 300nm
(b)interdot separation 500nm and diameter of dot 500nm

It has been obtained from the experiment that coercive field of ARRAY_1 and ARRAY_2 are 13.2 Oe
and 16.4 Oe respectively. Square hysteresis loop for ARRAY_1 has been observed.It indicates that the
magnetization reversal occurs through the coherent rotation of the spins of the nanodots. As the interdot
separation increases for ARRAY_2, the shapes of the hysteresis loop gets deviated from square one. Here
nanodots start to interact with each other. Therefore, reversal of each dot is influenced by the
magnetostatic stray fields from the neighbouring dots. Again, the coercive field of Ni80Fe20(20nm) is
around 8 Oe. Hence it may be assumed that the intrinsic magnetization reversal of the individual nanodots
in ARRAY_1 is suppressed and a strong collective reversal is observed. In ARRAY_2,where interdot
separation is 500 nm the dots start to interact weakly with each other, therefore they show individual
magnetization reversal. Therefore, reversal of them occurs slowly and a hysteresis loop shows deviation.
Its coercive field is found to be greater than ARRAY_1. If the nanodots of both arrays have equal
diameters but different interdot separation it would be better to compare among their coercive field. Again
nanodots of ARRAY_1 have some distortion in its shape which may give some in-plane anisotropy if
variation of the hysteresis loops are obtained for different azimuthal angle.

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 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we have measured hysteresis loops of different ferromagnetic nanostructures by using a

static magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometer. Co and Ni80Fe20 thin films were investigated first. They
showed quite low coercive fields and no presence of in-plane anisotropy. Continuous multilayer
structures were then fabricated with these films with varying bilayer repeats. As Co is a hard magnet and
Ni80Fe20 is a soft one, their composite forms an exchange spring magnet where the two films are
exchanged coupled at the interfaces. With increasing stack number, the coercive field increases primarily
due to the increase in anisotropy which can be attributed to the interfacial exchange coupling. In the next
step, we patterned the Ni80Fe20 thin film to fabricate dot arrays with varying diameter and inter-dot
separation. We have observed that depending on the inter-dot separation, the magnetostatic coupling
between the dots changes which in turn affects the magnetization reversal. The observations will be
important for the application of these structures in future technologies.

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 FUTURE PLAN

Based on the above studies, the following works can be done in future:

 The study on the exchange spring multilayers can be further extended to investigate the magnetic
properties with varying hard and soft layer thicknesses.

 The distortions in the nanodots (as was seen in the SEM images) can give rise to additional
anisotropy in the system which can be investigated by measuring the hysteresis loops as a function
of the azimuthal angle of the applied bias field.

 One can also study the areal density and lattice symmetry dependence of magnetization reversal in
the nanodot arrays.

 The experimental results can be analyzed with micromagnetic simulations for deeper
understanding of the results.

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