Angular dependence of the exchange bias and coercivity of IrMn/Co bilayers

摘要

In this study we present the in-plane angular dependences of the exchange-bias and coercive fields of magnetron-sputtered IrMn/Co exchange-coupled system before and after magnetic field annealing. Two experimental techniques were employed for the magnetic characterization of the samples, i.e., alternate gradient field magnetometry and anisotropic magnetoresistance measurements, which gave practically the same value for the exchange-bias field shift. An increase of the exchange-bias field and a substantial decrease of the coercivity are observed after the annealing. A phenomenological model was also used to adjust the data and to derive the anisotropy characteristics. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.