Magnetoelectric switching energy in Cr₂O₃/Pt/Co perpendicular exchange coupled thin film system with small Cr₂O₃ magnetization

We investigated perpendicular exchange bias switching by a magnetoelectric field cooling process in a Pt-spacer-inserted Cr₂O₃/Co exchangecoupled system exhibiting small Cr₂O₃ magnetization. Although higher magnetoelectric switching energies with decreasing Cr₂O₃ thickness due to the exchange bias were reported in Cr₂O₃/Co all-thin-film systems, in this study, we demonstrated low-energy switching in a magnetoelectric field cool process regardless of the exchange-bias magnitude; we balanced the exchange-bias energy with the Zeeman energy associated with finite magnetization in Cr₂O₃. We proposed a guideline for realizing low-energy switching in thin Cr₂O₃ samples.