Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Mn2CoAl thin film
N. Y. Sun,
Y. Q. Zhang,
H. R. Fu,
W. R. Che,
C. Y. You,
R. Shan
Affiliations
N. Y. Sun
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure and Pohl Institute of Solid State Physics and School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Y. Q. Zhang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure and Pohl Institute of Solid State Physics and School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
H. R. Fu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, PR China
W. R. Che
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure and Pohl Institute of Solid State Physics and School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
C. Y. You
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, PR China
R. Shan
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure and Pohl Institute of Solid State Physics and School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Heusler compound Mn2CoAl (MCA) is attracting more attentions due to many novel properties, such as high resistance, semiconducting behavior and suggestion as a spin-gapless material with a low magnetic moment. In this work, Mn2CoAl epitaxial thin film was prepared on MgO(100) substrate by magnetron sputtering. The transport property of the film exhibits a semiconducting-like behavior. Moreover, our research reveals that perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) can be induced in very thin Mn2CoAl films resulting from Mn-O and Co-O bonding at Mn2CoAl/MgO interface, which coincides with a recent theoretical prediction. PMA and low saturation magnetic moment could lead to large spin-transfer torque with low current density in principle, and thus our work may bring some unanticipated Heusler compounds into spintronics topics such as the domain wall motion and the current-induced magnetization reversal.
