Effect of crystalline disorder on magnetic switching in small magnetic cells.pdfVIP

Effect of crystalline disorder on magnetic switching in small magnetic cells 3 0 Daniel Braun∗ 0 2 l Infineon Technologies, 2070 State Route 52, Hopewell Junction, NY, 12533 u J MRAM Developement Alliance, IBM/Infineon Technologies, IBM Semiconductor Research and 3 2 Developement Center, 2070 State Route 52, Hopewell Junction, NY, 12533 ] n February 2, 2008 n - s i d . t Abstract a m - d n o I present a study of the influence of disorder in thin magnetic films on the switch- c [ ing behavior of small magnetic cells of well defined shape and size. The disorder 1 v 3 considered arises from randomly oriented crystalline grains of different shape, size, 9 5 and crystalline orientation which gives rise to locally fluctuating intrinsic anisotropy 7 0 directions and strengths. The study comprises a theoretical investigation of a dis- 3 0 / ordered Stoner Wohlfarth model, as well as micromagnetic simulations. I show that t a m the fluctuations in the total anisotropy and therefore in the switching fields are - d controlled by a single dimensionless parameter. The theoretical findings are well n o c confirmed by micromagnetic simulations of many different samples. : v i PACS numbers: 85.75.B, 85.70.K, 75.75 X r Keywords: magnetic nanostructures, disorder, magnetic switching a ∗Corresponding author. Fax: +1 914 945 4421; email: v2braun@