title: Exchange Bias Tuning for Magnetoresistive Sensors by Inclusion of Non-Magnetic Impurities.
abstract: The fine control of the exchange coupling strength and blocking temperature ofexchange bias systems is an important requirement for the development of magnetoresistive sensors with two pinned electrodes. In this paper, we successfully tune these parameters in top- and bottom-pinned systems, comprising 5 nm thick Co40Fe40B20 and 6.5 nm thick Ir22Mn78 films. By inserting Ru impurities at different concentrations in the Ir22Mn78 layer, blocking temperatures ranging from 220 °C to 100 °C and exchange bias fields from 200 Oe to 60 Oe are obtained. This method is then applied to the fabrication of sensors based on magnetic tunneling junctions consisting of a pinned synthetic antiferromagnet reference layer and a top-pinned sensing layer. This work paves the way towards the development of new sensors with finely tuned magnetic anisotropies.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, via Giuseppe Colombo, 81, 20133 Milano, Italy. parikshitpratim.sharma@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Parikshit Pratim
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, via Giuseppe Colombo, 81, 20133 Milano, Italy. edoardo.albisetti@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Albisetti
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, via Giuseppe Colombo, 81, 20133 Milano, Italy. marco.monticelli@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Monticelli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, via Giuseppe Colombo, 81, 20133 Milano, Italy. riccardo.bertacco@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bertacco
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, via Giuseppe Colombo, 81, 20133 Milano, Italy. daniela.petti@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Petti
keywords: IrMn; blocking temperature; exchange bias; field cooling; magnetic tunneling junction; magnetoresistive sensors