Reduction of magnetic damping constant of FeCo films by rare-earth Gd doping

Abstract

Magnetic damping constant (α) is one of the key parameters to determine the critical current density of spin-transfer-torque devices and the switching time of magnetization for ultra-high-frequency devices. In this work, Gd doped FeCo films were fabricated to investigate α based on the ferromagnetic resonance technique. Gd doping not only can efficiently decrease the magnetic inhomogeneity and the extrinsic part of α but also the Landé g-factor and intrinsic part of α. The obtained α was roughly proportional to (g-2)2 and the magnetic anisotropic constant, indicating that the decreased spin-orbit interaction decreases α by Gd doping.