Influence of Au and Ag at the interface of sputtered giant magnetoresistance Fe/Cr multilayers

Author

Gurney, Bruce A. ; Wilhoit, Dennis R. ; Speriosu, Virgil S. ; Sanders, Ian L.

Author_Institution

IBM Almaden Res. Center, San Jose, CA, USA

Volume

26

Issue

5

fYear

1990

fDate

9/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2747

Lastpage

2749

Abstract

Multilayer films consisting of 20-Å Fe and 15-Å Cr with amounts of Au and Ag varying from 0 to 4 Å deposited at alternate Fe/Cr interfaces have been RF-diode-sputtered, and their magnetic and magnetotransport properties have been measured. When no noble metal is included, the films exhibit strong antiparallel coupling between adjacent Fe layers, with saturation fields as large as 7 kOe, and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) of 6% at 300 K, similar to that of MBE (molecular beam epitaxy)-grown films reported by others. The interruption of intimate contact between Fe and Cr at the interface resulting from noble-metal deposition gives rise to a substantial decrease in the magnitude of the GMR and the interfacial coupling. This suggests that the mechanism of GMR is associated with Fe and Cr in contact, as is required by models invoking spin-dependent impurity scattering. The results also suggest that the antiparallel coupling arises from direct exchange

Keywords

chromium; electronic conduction in metallic thin films; gold; impurity scattering; iron; magnetic surface phenomena; magnetic thin films; magnetisation; magnetoresistance; silver; sputtered coatings; 0 to 4 angstroms; 15 angstroms; 20 angstroms; 300 K; Fe-Ag-Cr multilayers; Fe-Au-Cr sputtered multilayers; GMR; MBE grown films; RF diode sputtering; antiparallel coupling; giant magnetoresistance; interfacial coupling; magnetisation; magnetotransport properties; molecular beam epitaxy; noble-metal deposition; saturation fields; spin-dependent impurity scattering; Chromium; Giant magnetoresistance; Gold; Iron; Magnetic field measurement; Magnetic films; Magnetic multilayers; Magnetic properties; Molecular beam epitaxial growth; Saturation magnetization;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.104859

Filename

104859