Thermally driven asymmetric responses of grains versus spin-glass related distributions of blocking temperature in exchange biased Co/IrMn bilayers

Controlling ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic blocking temperatures in exchange biased based devices appears crucial for applications. The blocking temperature is ascribed to the ability of both antiferromagnetic grains and interfacial spin-glass-like phases to withstand ferromagnetic magnetization reversal. To better understand the respective contributions of grains versus spin-glass, blocking temperature distributions were measured after various thermal treatments for cobalt/iridium-manganese bilayers. The high-temperature contribution linked to antiferromagnetic grains shifts towards lower temperatures above a threshold thermal annealing. In contrast, the occurrence and evolution of training effects for the low-temperature contribution only agree with its inferred interfacial spin-glass-like origin. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4792347]