Effects of atomic layer etching on magnetic properties of CoFeB films: Reduction of Gilbert damping
Effects of atomic layer etching on magnetic properties of CoFeB films: Reduction of Gilbert damping
复制标题
原子层刻蚀对 CoFeB 薄膜磁性能的影响：吉尔伯特阻尼的降低
DOI：
10.1016/j.jmmm.2022.170052
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发表时间：
2022
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Xiao, John Q.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Konh, Mahsa;Wang, Yang;Pina, Marissa;Teplyakov, Andrew V.;Xiao, John Q.
原子层刻蚀（ALE）是一种新兴的微电子工业应用的原子级精度的薄膜刻蚀技术。这种方法以前已被证明可以在许多材料上工作;然而，在大多数情况下，只研究ALE之后这些材料的电子性质。由于复杂磁性材料的ALE对于磁性隧道结（MTJ）的使用非常重要，因此必须了解这种蚀刻方法如何影响相应薄膜的磁性。在这项工作中，我们研究了表面形貌，元素组成，最重要的是，磁性能的技术相关的磁性合金CoFeB的ALE处理前后，并与传统的离子铣削蚀刻技术相比。通过铁磁共振测量，我们发现，虽然从ALE的饱和磁化强度的变化很小，吉尔伯特阻尼的CoFeB减少了11- 35%，可能是由于抑制样品表面上的两个磁振子散射过程。我们的研究结果表明，ALE可以用于非破坏性地蚀刻CoFeB，甚至可以改善其磁化动力学特性。
Atomic layer etching (ALE) is an emerging technology to etch thin films with atomic level precision for microelectronics industry applications. This approach has been previously demonstrated to work on a number of materials; however, in most cases, only electronic properties of these materials following ALE are investigated. Since ALE of complex magnetic materials is extremely important for use in magnetic tunnel junctins (MTJs), it is imperative to understand how this etching approach affects the magnetic properties of the corresponding films. In this work, we studied the surface morphology, elemental composition, and most importantly, the magnetic properties of the technologically relevant magnetic alloy CoFeB before and after ALE treatment, and compared with the traditional ion milling etching technique. Through ferromagnetic resonance measurements, we find while the change in the saturation magnetization from ALE is small, the Gilbert damping of CoFeB is reduced by 11–35%, possibly due to the suppressed two-magnon scattering processes on the sample surface. Our results show that ALE can be used to etch CoFeB nondestructively and may even improve its magnetization dynamics properties.