Effect Of Grain Cutting In Exchange Biased Nanostructures

The effect of sub-500 nm patterning on exchange bias in thin films has been studied. Experimental results are compared to the York model of exchange bias which has been modified to take into account grain cutting at the edges of the structures. Exchange bias (H-ex) was found to decrease with element size. The form of the variation of Hex with element size matches that of the experiment. Numerical agreement has not been achieved for Hex. However, the predictions of the median blocking temperature < T-B > agree with experiment. The disagreement for H-ex is attributed to edge roughness of the structures which will affect the quality of the interface which is dominant in structures of this scale. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.