Analytical/numerical calculation of the thermal stability factor in nanostructured exchange-coupled trilayers

Abstract

An analytical/numerical method is used to calculate the thermal stability factor in nanostructured cells of exchange-coupled (either ferromagnetically or antiferromagnetically) trilayers. The method is then critically tested by comparing the calculated results with reliable experimental results reported recently in the literature [S. Yakata, H. Kubota, T. Sugano, T. Seki, K. Yakushiji, A. Fukushima, S. Yuasa, and K. Ando, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 242504 (2009)]. The accuracy of the method is confirmed by the excellent agreement for an antiferromagnetically coupled trilayer. For a ferromagnetically coupled trilayer, the comparison indicates a very weak interlayer exchange coupling (0.052 erg/cm(2)) between the two magnetic layers where the magnetization switching occurs in the via antiparallel mode. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3486163]