Effect of the Semiconductor Spacer on Positive Exchange Bias in the CoNi/Si/FeNi Three-Layer Structure

Films consisting of a hard magnetic ferromagnet CoNi and a soft magnetic ferromagnet FeNi interacting through a nonmagnetic Si semiconductor spacer are experimentally studied. The temperature and field dependences of the magnetic properties of film structures with different silicon thicknesses are examined. It is found that the multilayer structure has the properties inherent in magnetic springs and exhibits positive exchange bias as a function of the silicon thickness.