Electric Field Control Of Magnetism In Si3n4 Gated Pt/Co/Pt Heterostructures

In this work, we show the presence of a magnetoelectric coupling in silicon-nitride gated Pt/Co/Pt heterostructures using X-ray photoemission electron microscopy. We observe a change in magnetic anisotropy in the form of domain wall nucleation and a change in the rate of domain wall fluctuation as a function of the applied electric field to the sample. We also observe the coexistence of in-plane and out-of-plane magnetization in Pt/Co/Pt heterostructures in a region around the spin reorientation transition whose formation is attributed to substrate surface roughness comparable to the film thickness; with such domain configuration, we find that the in-plane magnetization is more sensitive to the applied electric field than out-of-plane magnetization. Although we find an effective magnetoelectric coupling in our system, the presence of charge defects in the silicon nitride membranes hampers the systematic electrostatic control of the magnetization. Published under license by AIP Publishing.