Micro-magnetoelastic modeling of Terfenol-D for spintronics

This article focuses on computational studies evaluating the influence of crystallinity, residual stresses, and out-of-plane (OOP) deterministic switching on Terfenol-D nano/microstructures. The computational models use both coupled and uncoupled Landau–Liftshitz–Gilbert equations with elastodynamics to study strain-induced magnetization reorientation. A Voronoi tessellation approach models the crystal distribution in the microstructures subjected to residual stresses with good agreement to experimental data including large changes in coercivity values, i.e., from 100 to 3000 Oe. Parametric studies show how the coercivity is manipulated with residual stresses, including a magnetoelastically induced perpendicular-magnetic-anisotropy (PMA), important for memory applications. Additional parametric studies focus on epitaxially deposited micro-disks, revealing that residual stresses can create magnetoelastically dominant easy axes along the ⟨110⟩ directions, which are energetically favorable relative to the intrinsic ⟨111⟩ magnetocrystalline easy axes. Modification of the global easy axis is used to design a strain-mediated multiferroic composite consisting of a 20 nm epitaxially deposited Terfenol-D memory bit with PMA grown on a PZT substrate. The multiferroic disk achieves OOP deterministic clocking with an applied voltage.