A correlation between the growth process and electrical properties of [Ni80Fe20(2 nm)/ Au(2 nm)/Co(0.8 nm)/Au(2 nm)]15 multilayers is presented. A set of multilayers of identical composition was deposited in different temperatures. The changes in giant magnetoresistance amplitude were correlated with the changes in Co layers growth process that occur in different temperatures. The in situ conductance measurement leads to the growth mechanism identification in high temperatures as formation of Co islands. Intensified islandisation of Co was eventually confirmed by the temperature changes in shape of the Hall voltage loops, and the evolution of Co layers contribution.
We review selected results concerning the interlayer exchange coupling in Fe/SixFe1−x , Fe/Ge and Co/Si layered structures. Among the ferromagnet/semiconductor systems, Fe/Si structures are the most popular owing to their strong antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling. We show that such interaction depends not only on semiconducting sublayer thickness, but also on deposition techniques and on the chemical composition of the sublayer as well. In similar heterostructures e.g. Fe/Ge, antiferromagnetic coupling was observed only in ion-beam deposited trilayers at low temperatures. In contrast, in Fe/Ge multilayers deposited by sputtering, no such coupling was found. However, when the Ge is partially substituted by Si, antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling appears. For Co/Si multilayers, we observed a very weak exchange coupling and its oscillatory behavior. The growth of Co on Si occurs in an island growth mode. The evolution of magnetic loop shapes can be successfully explained by the interplay between interlayer coupling and anisotropy terms.
In the following we present the role of surface scattering at Au/Co and Au/Ni-Fe interfaces in Ni-Fe/Au/Co/Au multilayers deposited in different temperatures. Specularity parameter, which describes the electron scattering, is calculated from fitting in situ collected conductance data with the Fuchs-Namba-Tesanovic model. Application of the parallel resistors model enabled to depict changes between Au/Co and Au/Ni-Fe interfaces within multilayers for each repetition. The correlation between enhanced grain boundary scattering for higher deposition temperatures and surface roughness of Ni-Fe/Au/Co/Au multilayers is found.
In this contribution the in situ conductance vs. deposition time dependences of Fe/Si multilayers are analysed. The plot of resistance multiplied by the square of the thickness as a function of iron thickness shows that during the iron deposition initially amorphous-like Fe-Si mixture is formed, next the mixture crystallises, and finally bcc-Fe phase appears. The interface mixing is also manifested by the reduction of the total multilayer thickness measured by small angle X-ray diffraction.
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