Exchange anisotropy and thermal stability of Mn-Ir-Pt exchange-biased layers

The exchange coupling and the microstructures of the Ta/(Ni-Fe,Co-Fe)/Mn-Ir-Pt/Ta multilayers have been investigated by varying the compositions of Mn-Ir-Pt film. For exchange-bias layer (EBL) comprising NiFe/CoFe/Mn/sub 79.7/Ir/sub 18.4/Pt/sub 1.9/ structures, the exchange bias field (H/sub ex/) of 441 Oe (exchange energy Jex of 0.236 erg/cm/sup 2/) and the blocking temperature (T/sub b/) of 260/spl deg/C was obtained. In addition, it is found that the Mn-Ir-Pt EBL's have the polycrystalline structure and [111] texture. The crystallographic structure of the Mn-Ir-Pt film was face centered cubic (FCC).