Strong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling induced by small additions of Re to an Ir interlayer in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems

Abstract Synthetic antiferromagnetic (AF) pinned layers are widely used in order to reduce the stray field of the pinned layer and stabilize the magnetic alignment of the reference layer in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). Here, a detailed study of Re concentration dependence of the m...

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Main Authors: Yoshiaki Saito, Tufan Roy, Shoji Ikeda, Masafumi Shirai, Hiroaki Honjo, Hirofumi Inoue, Tetsuo Endoh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-03-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94088-w
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author Yoshiaki Saito
Tufan Roy
Shoji Ikeda
Masafumi Shirai
Hiroaki Honjo
Hirofumi Inoue
Tetsuo Endoh
author_facet Yoshiaki Saito
Tufan Roy
Shoji Ikeda
Masafumi Shirai
Hiroaki Honjo
Hirofumi Inoue
Tetsuo Endoh
author_sort Yoshiaki Saito
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Synthetic antiferromagnetic (AF) pinned layers are widely used in order to reduce the stray field of the pinned layer and stabilize the magnetic alignment of the reference layer in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). Here, a detailed study of Re concentration dependence of the magnitude of interlayer exchange coupling (|J ex|) in a synthetic AF system with an Ir–Re interlayer is conducted. We observed strong AF interlayer exchange coupling caused by small amounts of Re addition and phase shift of the AF peak to thinner interlayer region in synthetic AF systems with Ir–Re interlayer. A synthetic AF system with an Ir–Re interlayer has strong AF interlayer exchange coupling and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy which are stable up to 673K annealing, which is compatible with CMOS back-end of line (BEOL) processing. First-principles calculations demonstrate good agreement with experiments, which show a peak of |J ex| around Re concentration of less than 5 atomic%. The observed Ir–Re interlayer would be one of the promising interlayer materials for MTJs with the synthetic AF structure and be useful for future nonvolatile high-speed memories and logic circuits.
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issn 2045-2322
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spelling doaj-art-5a15adf2bf414df5bfdcdebba4a446cc2025-08-20T03:02:21ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-03-011511810.1038/s41598-025-94088-wStrong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling induced by small additions of Re to an Ir interlayer in synthetic antiferromagnetic systemsYoshiaki Saito0Tufan Roy1Shoji Ikeda2Masafumi Shirai3Hiroaki Honjo4Hirofumi Inoue5Tetsuo Endoh6Center for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems, Tohoku UniversityCenter for Science and Innovation in Spintronics, Tohoku UniversityCenter for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems, Tohoku UniversityCenter for Science and Innovation in Spintronics, Tohoku UniversityCenter for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems, Tohoku UniversityCenter for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems, Tohoku UniversityCenter for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems, Tohoku UniversityAbstract Synthetic antiferromagnetic (AF) pinned layers are widely used in order to reduce the stray field of the pinned layer and stabilize the magnetic alignment of the reference layer in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). Here, a detailed study of Re concentration dependence of the magnitude of interlayer exchange coupling (|J ex|) in a synthetic AF system with an Ir–Re interlayer is conducted. We observed strong AF interlayer exchange coupling caused by small amounts of Re addition and phase shift of the AF peak to thinner interlayer region in synthetic AF systems with Ir–Re interlayer. A synthetic AF system with an Ir–Re interlayer has strong AF interlayer exchange coupling and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy which are stable up to 673K annealing, which is compatible with CMOS back-end of line (BEOL) processing. First-principles calculations demonstrate good agreement with experiments, which show a peak of |J ex| around Re concentration of less than 5 atomic%. The observed Ir–Re interlayer would be one of the promising interlayer materials for MTJs with the synthetic AF structure and be useful for future nonvolatile high-speed memories and logic circuits.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94088-w
spellingShingle Yoshiaki Saito
Tufan Roy
Shoji Ikeda
Masafumi Shirai
Hiroaki Honjo
Hirofumi Inoue
Tetsuo Endoh
Strong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling induced by small additions of Re to an Ir interlayer in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems
Scientific Reports
title Strong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling induced by small additions of Re to an Ir interlayer in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems
title_full Strong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling induced by small additions of Re to an Ir interlayer in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems
title_fullStr Strong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling induced by small additions of Re to an Ir interlayer in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems
title_full_unstemmed Strong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling induced by small additions of Re to an Ir interlayer in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems
title_short Strong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling induced by small additions of Re to an Ir interlayer in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems
title_sort strong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling induced by small additions of re to an ir interlayer in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94088-w
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