A method to control magnetism in individual strain-mediated magnetoelectric islands

Patterned electrodes on a piezoelectric substrate are demonstrated to produce a localized strain of sufficient magnitude to control the magnetic anisotropy of a Ni island. Strain-induced magnetic anisotropy was measured using the magneto-optical Kerr effect, and the measured shifts in magnetic anisotropy were consistent with strain predicted using linear finite element analysis. This approach overcomes the effect of the substrate clamping the in-plane strain and should be scalable to thin films. This approach represents a key step toward realizing the next generation of strain mediated magneto-electric magnetic random access memory devices with low writing energy and high writing speed. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.