Magnetic characterization of cobalt nanowires and square nanorings fabricated by focused electron beam induced deposition.

Federico Venturi,Stefano Frabboni,Gian Carlo Gazzadi,Rafal E Dunin-Borkowski,Amir H Tavabi,Alberto Rota

doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.97

Abstract

The magnetic properties of nanowires (NWs) and square nanorings, which were deposited by focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) of a Co carbonyl precursor, are studied using off-axis electron holography (EH), Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (L-TEM) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). EH shows that NWs deposited using beam energies of 5 and 15 keV have the characteristics of magnetic dipoles, with larger magnetic moments observed for NWs deposited at lower energy. L-TEM is used to image magnetic domain walls in NWs and nanorings and their motion as a function of applied magnetic field. The NWs are found to have almost square hysteresis loops, with coercivities of ca. 10 mT. The nanorings show two different magnetization states: for low values of the applied in-plane field (0.02 T) a horseshoe state is observed using L-TEM, while for higher values of the applied in-plane field (0.3 T) an onion state is observed at remanence using L-TEM and MFM. Our results confirm the suitability of FEBID for nanofabrication of magnetic structures and demonstrate the versatility of TEM techniques for the study and manipulation of magnetic domain walls in nanostructures.

Highlights

Magnetic nanostructures are studied intensively for their applications in high-density data storage [1,2], magnetic random access memory [3], magnetic logic nanodevices [4]and magnetic sensing [5]
The deposited thickness was found to be similar in each set, as revealed by energyfiltered TEM (EFTEM) thickness maps [32]
Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (L-TEM) images of NWs were used to reveal the presence of a square hysteresis loop with a coercive field of approximately 10 mT

Summary

Introduction

Magnetic nanostructures are studied intensively for their applications in high-density data storage [1,2], magnetic random access memory [3], magnetic logic nanodevices [4]and magnetic sensing [5]. The measurements were performed on as-deposited samples without applying an external magnetic field. Impurities are present on some samples (especially for the 20 s and 40 s depositions at 5 keV), resulting in flux-closure domain states, which deform the dipole-like phase structure locally.

Results

Conclusion