Interface induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Co/CoO/Co thin film structure: An in-situ MOKE investigation

Abstract

Co /CoO/Co polycrystalline film was grown on Si (001) substrate and magnetic properties have been investigated using in-situ magneto-optic Kerr effect during growth of the sample. Magnetic anisotropy with easy axis perpendicular to the film surface has been observed in top Co layer, whereas bottom layer was found to be soft with in-plane magnetization without any influence of top layer. Ex-situ in-plane and out-of-plane diffraction measurements revealed that the growth of Co on oxidized interface takes place with preferential orientation of c-axis perpendicular to the film plane, which results in the observed perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Texturing of the c-axis is expected to be a result of minimization of the interface energy due to hybridization between Co and oxygen at the interface.