Magnetization reversal of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy regulated by ferroelectric polarization in CoFe 3 N/BaTiO 3 heterostructures: first-principles calculations.

Exploring the electric-field switching of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in multiferroic heterostructures has important physical significance, which attracts great interest due to its promising application for energy-efficient information storage. Herewith, we investigate the effect of ferroelectric polarization on magnetic anisotropy in CoFe 3 N/BaTiO 3 heterostructures using first-principles calculations. The calculations reveal that the magnetic anisotropy of CoFe 3 N can be regulated by ferroelectric polarization of BaTiO 3 . When the ferroelectric polarization reverses, the PMA of FeCo-TiO 2 and FeN-BaO configurations remains, but in the FeN-TiO 2 and FeCo-BaO cases, magnetic anisotropy inverses between out-of-plane and in-plane direction. Further orbital-resolved analysis indicates that the transition of magnetic anisotropy is mainly attributed to the orbital hybridization of interfacial Fe/Co atoms with O atoms induced by the magnetoelectric effect. This study may open an effective approach toward modulating PMA and lays a foundation to the development of low energy consumption memory devices.