Precise control of interface anisotropy during deposition of Co/Pd multilayers
- School of Computer Science, The University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
- School of Materials, The University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics, Durham University, South Rd, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
We demonstrate the control of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in multilayer films without modification of either the microstructure or saturation magnetization by tuning the Ar{sup +} ion energy using remote plasma sputtering. We show that for [Co/Pd]{sub 8} multilayer films, increasing the Ar{sup +} ion energy results in a strong decrease in PMA through an increase in interfacial roughness determined by X-ray reflectivity measurements. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope image data show that the microstructure is independent of Ar{sup +} energy. This opens a different approach to the in-situ deposition of graded exchange springs and for control of the polarizing layer in hybrid spin transfer torque devices.
- OSTI ID:
- 22402695
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 20; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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