Coercivity change in an FePt thin layer in a Hall device by voltage application

Abstract

The coercivity (Hc) of a perpendicularly magnetized FePt layer was modulated by applying the voltage (Vapp) to a Hall device through MgO and Al–O insulating layers. A change in ∼40 Oe in Hc was observed by changing Vapp from −13 to 13 V. From the quantitative analysis of the voltage effect on Hc, the change in the anisotropy energy by voltage application was evaluated to be 18.6 fJ/V m, which was of the same order as the theoretical prediction. The role of the MgO layer for the voltage effect was also discussed.