Compositionally tunable Néel temperature in Mn1-xCoxN : A route to enhance magneto-ionic exchange bias control
López-Pintó, Nicolau (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física)
Jensen, Christopher J. (Georgetown University)
Chen, Zhijie (Georgetown University)
Zeng, Zihui (Georgetown University)
Kinane, Christy J. (STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Regne Unit))
Caruana, Andrew J. (STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Regne Unit))
Grutter, Alexander J. (National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, Estats Units d'Amèrica))
Borchers, Julie A. (STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Regne Unit))
Menéndez, Enric (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física)
Nogués, Josep (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Liu, Kai (Georgetown University)
Sort, Jordi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física)

Date:	2027
Abstract:	To address growing computational demands, energy-efficient hardware technologies such as spintronics and neuromorphic computing have attracted significant interest. In particular, magneto-ionics offers a low-power, non-volatile approach to control magnetic properties, making it particularly suitable for manipulating antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials. In this work, we report magneto-ionic control of exchange bias (EB) in Mn CoN/Co with a compositionally tunable Néel temperature, T. The high T in MnN (> 650 K) typically necessitates high-temperature annealing, which triggers uncontrolled thermally induced ion-motion effects. Addition of Co to MnN reduces T, enabling robust EB to be established after field cooling from 400 K, while preserving structural integrity. Importantly, EB can be subsequently tuned by voltage, up to a 30% enhancement observed at 100 K alongside an increase in saturation magnetization (up to ≈ 250 emu cm). Unlike previous works on similar single-layer nitrides, incorporating an additional ferromagnetic Co layer to form an AFM/ferromagnetic bilayer amplifies the voltage-induced effects. This work highlights the dual role of Co addition to MnN: (i) reducing the thermal requirements for setting EB by lowering T, and (ii) enhancing electrical control of EB. These results represent a step forward towards the development of low-power voltage-controlled spintronic devices.
Grants:	European Commission 101054687 European Commission 101204328 Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades PID2024-156385OB-I00 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PDC2021-121276-C31 Generalitat de Catalunya 2021/SGR-00651 Agencia Estatal de Investigación CEX2021-001214-S Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CNS2022-135230
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Magneto-ionics ; Exchange bias ; MnCoN
Published in:	Journal of Materials Science and Technology, Vol. 276 (January 2027) , p. 105-112, ISSN 1005-0302

DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2026.04.010

8 p, 2.5 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles