Ion Irradiation Induced Cobalt/Cobalt Oxide Heterostructures: From Materials to Devices

Spintronic devices are often patterned from continuous films into micro- or nanostructures. Fabrication of those nano-devices is self-limited and depends on the lateral resolution of the chosen fabrication method. Ion irradiation offers an alternative route to introduce smaller magnetic patterns limited by the size of the ion beam. Irradiation of oxide materials can cause chemical reduction and lead to the local formation of metallic species. By using the oxide family of ferromagnets (e.g., Fe, Ni and Co), reduction leads to the formation of ferromagnetic and conducting volumes limited by the size of the ion irradiated area that are embedded into a non-magnetic and insulating matrix. On the other hand, the physical mechanism behind ion irradiation-induced oxide reduction could not be explained. Therefore, our studies focus on ion (H, He, Ne, O) irradiated cobalt-oxide (CoO or Co3O4) systems in order to explain the physics behind the process. Also, the knowledge is being exploited to tune exchange-bias direction, prepare nano contacts for synchronized spin torque oscillators, and to form topographically stabilized magnetic skyrmions.