Phase Transition-Induced Modulation of Exchange Bias in Fe/BiFeO3 Bilayers

Many of researches indicate that epitaxial BiFeO3 (BFO) films deposited on LaAlO3 (LAO) substrate undergo strain-driven phase transition from a tetragonal-like phase (T-BFO) to a rhombohedral-like phase (R-BFO), and a mixed phase (M-BFO) that T-BFO coexists with R-BFO forms in the phase transition process. It is necessary to explore how BFO phase transition affects the exchange bias in ferromagnet (FM)/BFO bilayers. In our studies, aforementioned BFO phase transition is accomplished by varying BFO films thickness. Using 5 nm-thick Fe as ferromagnetic layer deposited on 9–354 nm-thick BFO as antiferromagnetic layer, the exchange bias in Fe/BFO bilayers exhibits that Fe/M-BFO bilayers shows smaller exchange bias than Fe/T-BFO and Fe/R-BFO bilayers. We ascribed the effect of the BFO phase transition on the exchange bias to the domain walls caused by the exchange interaction between T-BFO and R-BFO across their boundaries. Additionally, for the same reason, the coercivity also exhibits the same variation trend as the exchange bias does. Our studies will help to promote the application of controlling the ferromagnetic magnetization by the electric field.