Novel Magnetic Materials for Advanced Spin-Based Devices
This grant supports research to create and test novel magnetic thin films and MTJ devices for advanced spintronic applications using high-throughput methods.
This grant is no longer accepting proposals
NRC Research Associateship Programs has archived this opportunity.
Funder: NRC Research Associateship Programs
Due Dates: February 1, 2025 | May 1, 2025 | August 1, 2025
Funding Amounts: $82,764 stipend per year with $3,000 travel allowance; typical appointment duration 2 years.
Summary: Supports postdoctoral research on novel magnetic thin films and magnetic tunnel junction devices for advanced spintronic applications at NIST using high-throughput synthesis and characterization methods.
Key Information: Open to U.S. citizens with a Ph.D.; NIST participates in February and August review cycles only; requires contacting a research adviser prior to applying.
Description
This postdoctoral fellowship opportunity at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) focuses on advancing the synthesis and processing of magnetic thin films and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices for emerging spin-based device prototypes. The research addresses complex materials challenges involving precise control of magnetic anisotropy energy, interlayer exchange coupling, Gilbert damping, and tunneling magnetoresistance.
The NIST Magnetic Engineering Research Facility offers state-of-the-art ultrahigh vacuum environments (base pressure < 2 x 10^-10 Torr) for producing films with highly controlled properties, including full-film MTJs, half-metallic Heusler alloys, magnetic multilayers, synthetic antiferromagnets, and magnetoelastic materials with uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy.
The primary goal is to develop advanced spintronic testbeds that enable information storage and processing beyond Moore’s law. The program emphasizes novel high-throughput approaches such as combinatorial deposition and rapid measurement techniques for magnetic anisotropy, Gilbert damping, and tunneling magnetoresistance.
Facilities available include epitaxial growth, transport and magneto-optical studies, structural and magnetic characterization (e.g., AFM/MFM, magnetometry), and sample fabrication using e-beam and photolithography in a Class-100 cleanroom. Measurement instrumentation includes a 110 GHz broadband ferromagnetic resonance spectrometer, a 2 T vector vibrating sample magnetometer, a 0.3 T full-film MTJ current-in-plane tester, and a magneto-optic Kerr effect microscope. Material characterization is supported by x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy.
Keywords
- Damping
- Tunneling Magnetoresistance
- MRAM
- Perpendicular Anisotropy
- Magnetic Materials
- Spintronics
- Nanomagnetism
- Ferromagnetic Resonance
- Heusler Alloys
