Dependence of Curie temperature on Pt layer thickness in Co/Pt system

Abstract

The Pt thickness dependence of the Curie temperature of perpendicularly magnetized ultra-thin (Pt/)Co/Pt films has been investigated by magnetization measurements. The Curie temperature and the saturation magnetic moment increase with the Co layer thickness and even with the Pt layer thickness. The Curie temperature is found to have linear dependence on the total magnetic moment of the system and the coefficients of the linear fits are almost identical, regardless of whether the thicknesses of the ferromagnetic Co layer or the Pt layer are varied. The Curie temperature also increases with the magnetic anisotropy, but no systematic dependence is observed. These results suggest that the magnetic moment induced in the Pt layer by the ferromagnetic proximity effect plays a significant role in determining the Curie temperatures of such two-dimensional ferromagnetic systems.