Simulation of defects and composition after irradiation of ultrathin Pt/Co/Pt film with Ga+

Spin reorientation transition from in-plane to out-of-plane state has been observed experimentally in Pt/tCo/Pt film (tCo=3nm) after ion irradiation with 30 keV Ga⁺ [1]. Theoretical studies of the collision intermixing and defects creation processes of irradiated are presented. By means of TRIDYN simulations the dependence of composition and sputtering yield on ion fluence in the range of 10¹⁴ to 5 · 10¹⁶ ions/cm² is elucidated. Simulations show that ion fluence plays non-neglectable role in case of erosion and intermixing of the interface (which likely gives a certain strain to the system), which give rise to the new phenomena, the so-called swelling effect. On the other hand the swelling effect can relax the strain in the film and give rise to an increase of the magnetic anisotropy. However, the strain relaxation can be strongly non-uniform on the full square area providing a mixture of patches with in-plane or out-of-plane anisotropy. The presence of relatively large and quasi-uniform perpendicular anisotropy partially comes from peculiar strain states at the interface. Simulated compositions are compared with experimentally observed irradiation induced phenomena.