Shaping Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy of Co2MnGa Heusler Alloy Using Ion Irradiation for Magnetic Sensor Applications

Magnetic sensors are key elements in many industrial, security, military, and biomedical applications. Heusler alloys are promising materials for magnetic sensor applications due to their high spin polarization and tunable magnetic properties. The dynamic field range of magnetic sensors is strongly related to the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). By tuning the PMA, it is possible to modify the sensing direction, sensitivity and even the accuracy of the magnetic sensors. Here, we report the tuning of PMA in a Co2MnGa Heusler alloy film via argon (Ar) ion irradiation. MgO/Co2MnGa/Pd films with an initial PMA were irradiated with 30 keV 40Ar+ ions with fluences (ions·cm−2) between 1 × 1013 and 1 × 1015 Ar·cm−2, which corresponds to displacement per atom values between 0.17 and 17, estimated from Monte-Carlo-based simulations. The magneto optical and magnetization results showed that the effective anisotropy energy (Keff) decreased from ~153 kJ·m−3 for the un-irradiated film to ~14 kJ·m−3 for the 1 × 1014 Ar·cm−2 irradiated film. The reduced Keff and PMA are attributed to ion-irradiation-induced interface intermixing that decreased the interfacial anisotropy. These results demonstrate that ion irradiation is a promising technique for shaping the PMA of Co2MnGa Heusler alloy for magnetic sensor applications.