Zero Field Optic Mode Beyond 20 GHz in a Synthetic Antiferromagnet

Abstract

Antiferromagnets have considerable potential as spintronic materials [1]. Notably, they manifest resonant modes at frequencies higher than can be observed in conventional ferromagnetic materials. Synthetic Antiferromagnets (SAFs), engineered structures of antiferromagnetic (AF) RKKY exchange coupled ferromagnetic(FM)/non-magnetic(NM)/ferromagnetic trilayers, mimic the properties of single phase antiferromagnets whilst possessing greater compatibility with current device technologies such as those used for STT-MRAM production [2,3]. In addition to the conventional acoustic (Kittel) mode, SAFs also possess a higher order resonant (optic) mode [3]. The structure of a SAF is shown in Fig.1a. We report the dynamic properties of SAFs with structure Ta(2 nm)/CoFeB(5 nm)/Ru(tRu)/CoFeB(5 nm)/Pt(4 nm) where tRu is the thickness of the Ru layer, acting as the NM spacer layer. The samples were fabricated using magnetron sputtering and characterized by X-ray Reflectivity (XRR) to measure layer thickness, vector Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM) to verify AF interlayer coupling and a Vector Network Analyser – Ferromagnetic Resonance (VNA-FMR) setup to explore dynamic properties. Fig.1b shows the resonant dynamics of a single CoFeB layer and a CoFeB SAF. The data demonstrate the highest zero field frequencies observed in SAFs to date [4] with resonances of 18 GHz and 21 GHz at the 1st and 2nd instances of AF RKKY coupling respectively. A three part analytical model can reproduce the major features of the measured spectra.