Interfacial Exchange Coupling Induced Anomalous Anisotropic Magnetoresistance in Epitaxial γ′-Fe 4 N/CoN Bilayers

Anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) of the facing-target reactively sputtered epitaxial γ′-Fe4N/CoN bilayers is investigated. The phase shift and rectangular-like AMR appears at low temperatures, which can be ascribed to the interfacial exchange coupling. The phase shift comes from the exchange bias (EB) that makes the magnetization lag behind a small field. When the γ′-Fe4N thickness increases, the rectangular-like AMR appears. The rectangular-like AMR should be from the combined contributions including the EB-induced unidirectional anisotropy, intrinsic AMR of γ′-Fe4N layer and interfacial spin scattering.