Temperature dependence of exchange field and coercivity in polycrystalline NiO/NiFe film with thin antiferromagnetic layer: Role of antiferromagnet grain size distribution

The temperature dependence of the exchange bias Heb and coercivity Hc, has been measured for a NiO(6.5 nm)/Ni81Fe19(12 nm) bilayer which demonstrated at room temperature zero exchange bias, but an enhanced coercivity (Hc=65 Oe). Upon cooling the sample in a magnetic field (H=300 Oe), the exchange bias remains zero down to T=250 K, whereas the coercivity increases roughly linearly with decreasing temperature. Below this critical temperature an exchange shift of the hysteresis loop occurs that is accompanied by a decrease in the coercivity. Decreasing the temperature further results in an increase in both Heb and Hc. A thermal fluctuation model, where both fluctuating and stable AF grains contribute to the coercivity, with an additional assumption of increasing the density of NiO interfacial uncompensated spins at low temperature, predicts the correct temperature behavior of Heb and Hc.