Structural and magnetic properties of (Fe/Mn) exchange-biased multilayers

Exchange-biasing of ferromagnetic (F) Fe layers by adjacent antiferromagnetic (AF) Mn layers has been investigated in (Fe/Mn)10 multilayered films. This study has been focused on the relationship between the evolution of the exchange-bias field and the evolution of the film microstructure as a function of the deposition temperature. The increase of the deposition temperature results in the formation of an Fe–Mn alloy at the interfaces and columnar features whose size increases with the deposition temperature. In parallel, the exchange-bias field decreases significantly, due to interface roughness.