Eur. Phys. J. B 26, 431-434 (2002)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e20020110

Magnetic-roughness-induced magnetostatic interactions in magnetic tunnel junctions

¹ Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux, BP 239, 54506 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France
² Institut de Physique et de Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg ( UMR CNRS 7504) , 23 rue du Loess, 67037 Strasbourg Cedex, France

Corresponding author: ^a hehn@lpm.u-nancy.fr

Received: 7 December 2001
Published online: 15 April 2002

Abstract

Magnetostatic ferromagnetic coupling in magnetic tunnel junctions was selectively analyzed. We have shown that in samples involving polycrystalline magnetic films, beyond the orange-peel coupling, an important class of interaction is related to the dispersion fields associated to magnetic inhomogeneities. These magnetization fluctuations were described in terms of magnetic roughness arising from the local anisotropy fluctuations. Therefore, using roughness data extracted from atomic/ magnetic force microscopy analysis, the amplitude and the variation with distance of the magnetostatic interactions were selectively quantified.