Combination of antiferromagnetically coupled Co/Cu/Co trilayers and magnetic tunnel junctions

Abstract The Co/Al2O3/X tunnel junctions, where X denotes an antiferromagnetically coupled Co2/Cu (2 nm)/Co1 trilayer structure with different Co1(2) layer thicknesses, were examined. We show that the interplay of the ferromagnetic orange peel coupling and the antiferromagnetic exchange coupling between Co1 and Co2 results in the observed behaviour of the switching field versus Co layer thickness in the tunnel element.