Surface/interface roughness effects on magneto-electrical properties of thin films

We investigate roughness effects on electrical conductivity and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in thin films with self-affine roughness, characterized by the r.m.s. roughness amplitude w, the in-plane correlation length ξ, and the roughness exponent H. It is shown that dynamic roughening (evolution of the roughness parameters) plays an important role in electrical conductivity of growing films, and consequently also in the GMR. In both cases our theoretical predictions are in qualitative agreement with experimental observations.