Tailoring particle arrays by isotropic plasma etching: an approach towards percolated perpendicular media.
Plasma etching of densely packed arrays of polystyrene particles leads to arrays of spherical nanostructures with adjustable diameters while keeping the periodicity fixed. A linear dependence between diameter of the particles and etching time was observed for particles down to sizes of sub-50 nm. Subsequent deposition of Co/Pt multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy onto these patterns leads to an exchange-decoupled, single-domain magnetic nanostructure array surrounded by a continuous magnetic film. The magnetic reversal characteristic of the film-particle system is dominated by domain nucleation and domain wall pinning at the particle locations, creating a percolated perpendicular media system.
Institute of Physics, Chemnitz University of Technology, D-09107 Chemnitz, Germany. christoph.brombacher@physik.tu-chemnitz.de
Christoph
C
Brombacher
Marc
M
Saitner
Christian
C
Pfahler
Alfred
A
Plettl
Paul
P
Ziemann
Denys
D
Makarov
Daniel
D
Assmann
Martin H
MH
Siekman
Leon
L
Abelmann
Manfred
M
Albrecht
D016880:Anisotropy; D003035:Cobalt / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008280:Magnetics; D008422:Materials Testing; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D010316:Particle Size; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D003035:Cobalt; D010984:Platinum