Effect of strain on the magnetic anisotropy of Co in Cu/Co/Ni/Cu/Si[001] epitaxial structures

Author

Vaz, C.A.F. ; Lauhoff, G. ; Lee, I. ; Bland, J.A.C.

Author_Institution

Cavendish Lab., Cambridge Univ., UK

Volume

35

Issue

5

fYear

1999

Firstpage

3850

Lastpage

3852

Abstract

The effect of strain on the magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Co/Ni/Cu/Si(00l) structures was studied using polar magneto-optic Kerr effect WOKE) magnetometry and reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED). CO has the effect of reducing the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Ni for the whole range of Ni thicknesses (30 Å to 120 Å) while a variation of the perpendieular CO anisotropy constants with the Ni thickness is observed. The first and second order magnetoelastic coupling coefficients of CO were obtained from this strain-related variation, and are found to have opposite signs. We show that by varying the Ni thickness it is possible to sensitively control the magnetic anisotropy of the CO layer.

Keywords

Kerr magneto-optical effect; cobalt; copper; elemental semiconductors; ferromagnetic materials; magnetic multilayers; magnetoelastic effects; nickel; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; reflection high energy electron diffraction; silicon; 30 to 120 A; Cu-Co-Ni-Cu-Si; MOKE magnetometry; Ni thickness; RHEED; Si; magnetic anisotropy; magnetoelastic coupling coefficients; perpendicular Co anisotropy constants; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; polar magneto-optic Kerr effect; reflection high energy electron diffraction; strain; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Couplings; Diffraction; Electrons; Kerr effect; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic field induced strain; Magnetooptic effects; Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; Reflection;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.800686

Filename

800686