Electrical voltage manipulation of ferromagnetic microdomain structures in a ferromagnetic/ferroelectric hybrid structure

Abstract

We report on electrical bias voltage manipulation of the magnetic domain structures of patterned ferromagnetic Fe dots on a ferroelectric BaTiO3 underlayer using a scanning probe microscope technique. Piezoresponse force microscopy is used to apply local electric field on the Fe dots/BaTiO3 hybrid structure and to map the ferroelectric domain structures simultaneously. Magnetic force microscope observation also demonstrates that the magnetic domain structures of the Fe dots significantly change with the application of voltage at room temperature through the coupling between piezoelectric and magnetostrictive effects, indicating that the Fe dots/BaTiO3 hybrid structure provides a promising basis for controlling micromagnetic domain structures using electric voltage.

The incorporation of the Cauchy stress matrix tensor in micromagnetic simulations

“…Most methods achieve this control by using external magnetic fields or spin-torque current effects. 10,34 To demonstrate the ability of our computational approach to simulate such hybrid systems, we have modeled a ferromagnetic/PE bilayer system. 32,33 However, single-phase multiferroic materials tend to possess low magnetostrictive strain constants and, therefore, a weak magnetic response to electric field.…”

“…12,34 As the voltage is increased to +0.1 V, the maximum stress along the x-axis increases to 0.15 GPa. This domain structure is frequently observed in similar elements.…”

Modulation of magnetic coercivity in Ni thin films by reversible control of strain

“…However the application of its antiferromagnetism, instead of ferromagnetism, is still hard to accomplish. Furthermore, the coupling between ferromagnetic metal and ferroelectric oxide, named artificial multiferroics, has currently attracted much attention and actually provides more possibilities for functionality design [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. The coupling between ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity is mediated by the magneto-elastic effect through the reversible electric-field-controlled strain variation [22][23][24][25][26].…”

“…The coupling between ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity is mediated by the magneto-elastic effect through the reversible electric-field-controlled strain variation [22][23][24][25][26]. The ferroelectric materials of BaTiO 3 (BTO) [32][33][34][35] and Pb(Zr x Ti x 1− )O 3 (PZT) [26][27][28][29][30][31] have been widely used in the previous studies. For example, Lahtinen et al reported on the coupling between ferromagnetic and ferroelectric domains in CoFe/BTO heterostructures [33].…”

Reversible control of magnetic domains in a Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe2/Pt/PbZr0.56Ti0.44O3 thin film heterostructure deposited on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrate

“…9 On the other hand, control of the magnetic domains by an electric field was investigated by different authors. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] For instance, Ni ferromagnetic thin films (100 nm) on PZT films (1.3 lm) were used to reveal, by magnetic force microscopy (MFM), a control of the magnetic domain by changing the voltage applied to the ferroelectric layer. 13 Chung et al observed also shape modifications of magnetic domains when a 78 kV/cm electric field was applied to the PZT layer.…”