Large modulation of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in a BiFeO3/Al2O3/Pt/Co/Pt multiferroic heterostructure via spontaneous polarizations

Magnetism control has a variety of applications in magnetic storage and spintronic devices. Instead of the control of direct magnetoelectric coupling via strain, voltage, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, the polarization-dependent coupling in multiferroic materials such as BiFeO3 is employed for the electric-field control of magnetizations in this work. A perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) has been realized in a BiFeO3/Al2O3/Pt/Co/Pt multiferroic structure at room temperature. Interestingly, a distinct change of coercivity field (similar to 400%) has been observed in the structure with opposite polarization directions, which can be attributed to the different oxidation degree at the Pt/Co interface. This spontaneous polarization-controlled switching not only provides us a platform to study the interfacial effect in multiferroic heterostructures but also paves the way to manipulate PMA or even spin orbit torque through oxygen vacancies. Published by AIP Publishing.