Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy based spintronic devices in Pt/Co and Pt/Co/X/Pt stacks under different hard and flexible substrates

The magnetic properties in Pt/Co and Pt/Co/X/Pt multilayers (with X= different caping materials), such as perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), are of particular interest for spintronic devices. In particular, it is important to obtain a strong PMA on the flexible substrate in the field of wearable devices and structural health monitoring. However, the different stack structures and growth conditions influence the magnetic properties of the film. Here, we investigate the magnetic properties in Pt/Co/Pt and Pt/Co/X/Pt structures deposited by sputtering with different substrates (hard and flexible), layer thicknesses, different deposition temperatures of the buffer layer, different capping layers, insertion of a thin interlayer and irradiation by He+ ions. We exhibite conditions for better crystallinity, enhanced PMA, homogeneous domain wall motion and stronger DMI. The experimental results also show that the optimized film conditions can also yield strong PMA on the flexible substrate.