Field sweep rate dynamics in magnetic tunnel junctions

The dynamical behavior of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) was investigated by varying the magnetic field sweep rate from 0.01 mT/s to 10 T/s in a magneto optical Kerr effect set-up. The bias fields of the pinned and free ferrornagnetic electrodes were found to drastically decrease above a field sweep rate of I T/s. This decrease in the bias fields coincides with a change in the magnetization reversal process from domain wall motion at low-field sweep rates to domain nucleation at high-field sweep rates. The nucleation of inverse domains in the ferromagnetic layer changes the interfacial spin structure of the antiferromagnetic layer and therefore the magnitude of the exchange bias effect. Furthermore, the nucleation of domains induces a discontinuous magnetic charge density at the tunnel barrier interfaces and this reduces the interlayer coupling between the two ferromagnetic electrodes of the MTJ. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.