Clarifying roughness and atomic diffusion contributions to the interface broadening in exchange-biased NiFe/FeMn/NiFe heterostructures

NiFe(30 nm)/FeMn(13 nm)/NiFe(10 nm) heterostructures prepared by magnetron sputtering at different argon working pressures (0.27, 0.67 and 1.33 Pa) were systematically investigated by using specular and off-specular diffuse X-ray scattering experiments, combined with ferromagnetic resonance technique, in order to distinguish the contribution from roughness and atomic diffusion to the total structural disorder at NiFe/FeMn interfaces. It was shown that an increase in the working gas pressure from 0.27 to 1.33 Pa causes an enhancement of the atomic diffusion at the NiFe/FeMn interfaces, an effect more pronounced at the top FeMn/NiFe interface. In particular, this atomic diffusion provokes a formation of non-uniform magnetic dead-layers at the NiFe/FeMn interfaces (NiFeMn regions with paramagnetic or weak antiferromagnetic properties); that are responsible for the substantial reduction of the exchange bias field in the NiFe/FeMn system. Thus, this work generically helps to understand the discrepancies found in the literature regarding the influence of the interface broadening on the exchange bias properties (e.g., exchange bias field) of the NiFe/FeMn system.