TY - JOUR
T1 - Microstructural characterization of Co/Cu multilayers
AU - Modak, A. R.
AU - Parkin, S. S P
AU - Smith, David
N1 - Funding Information:
ARM is pleasedt o acknowledges upportfrom an IBM Graduate Fellowship and we thank K.P. Roche for technical support. The electron mi-croscopyp art of this work was carried out in the Center for High Resolution Electron Microscopy at Arizona State University, supportedb y NSF Grant No, DMR-91-15680.
PY - 1994/1/2
Y1 - 1994/1/2
N2 - A series of dc magnetron-sputtered Co/Cu superlattices, with Co magnetic layers of ≈ 10 Å thickness and Cu spacer layer thicknesses in the range 10-400 Å, has been characterized by high-resolution electron microscopy. The multilayer structure was found to be polycrystalline with individual columnar grains spanning several bilayers. The grain size increased for Cu spacer layers of greater thickness, with a grain size of at least 3-4 bilayer periods being typical for multilayers with the thickest Cu layers (100-400 Å). In terms of the giant magnetoresistance (GMRC) exhibited by these metallic superlattices, these observations mean that conduction electron scattering at grain boundaries can, to a first approximation, be ignored in models for GMR dependence on Cu layer thickness.
AB - A series of dc magnetron-sputtered Co/Cu superlattices, with Co magnetic layers of ≈ 10 Å thickness and Cu spacer layer thicknesses in the range 10-400 Å, has been characterized by high-resolution electron microscopy. The multilayer structure was found to be polycrystalline with individual columnar grains spanning several bilayers. The grain size increased for Cu spacer layers of greater thickness, with a grain size of at least 3-4 bilayer periods being typical for multilayers with the thickest Cu layers (100-400 Å). In terms of the giant magnetoresistance (GMRC) exhibited by these metallic superlattices, these observations mean that conduction electron scattering at grain boundaries can, to a first approximation, be ignored in models for GMR dependence on Cu layer thickness.
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U2 - 10.1016/0304-8853(94)90140-6
DO - 10.1016/0304-8853(94)90140-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0028195958
SN - 0304-8853
VL - 129
SP - 415
EP - 422
JO - Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
JF - Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
IS - 2-3
ER -