Simulating a perpendicular exchange-biased structure with a partially covering nonmagnetic insertion at the FM/AFM interface

The existence of minority spins, opposite to the perpendicular exchange bias, and majority spins aligned with this bias, and the dependence of the perpendicular exchange-bias field on the imprint effect, caused by the partially covering spacer at the ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic (FM/AFM) interface, have been studied using Ising-type simulations. The present investigation suggests that the main factors influencing this phenomenon were dependent on the FM/AFM interface morphology, the balance between FM/AFM coupling and the FM-spins coupling, and the numerical balance between minority and majority spins. It was also determined that the imprint phenomenon can be used to enhance the perpendicular exchange-bias for small partial insertions at the FM/AFM interface.