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Atomic Resolution Imaging of Thin Film Interfaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

D. J. Larson ,
P. H. Clifton ,
R. L. Martens ,
A. Cerezo ,
T. F. Kelly ,
A. K. Petford-Long ,
G. D. W. Smith  and
N. Tabat
D. J. Larson
Affiliation:
Recording Head Operations, Seagate Technology, Minneapolis, MN55435, USA
P. H. Clifton
Affiliation:
Seagate Technology, Reasearch and Development, 1 Disc Drive, Londonderry, N. IrelandBT48 OBF, UK
R. L. Martens
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering., University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI53706, USA
A. Cerezo
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH, England
T. F. Kelly
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering., University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI53706, USA
A. K. Petford-Long
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH, England
G. D. W. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH, England
N. Tabat
Affiliation:
Recording Head Operations, Seagate Technology, Minneapolis, MN55435, USA
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Extract

In recent years there has been a high degree of interest in multilayer film (MLF) structures because of their applications as magnetoresistive sensors and as memory elements in magnetoresistive random access memory arrays. As each of the layers in a spin-valve-based MLF structure1 is only a few nanometers in thickness, the morphology of the layers is crucial in controlling the magnetic and transport properties of the devices. In general, the microstructural features that can influence the film properties include layer roughness, layer composition, interfacial chemical mixing, grain size, grain boundary morphology, and crystallographic orientation, with the most important microstructural parameter being the nature of the interfaces between adjacent layers. With so many internal interfaces, each of which can have a different morphology and degree of intermixing, it is extremely difficult to determine the nature of each individual interface unless a technique is used that can analyze them independently, and with high spatial resolution.

Type
Surfaces and Interfaces
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 6 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis 2000, Microscopy Society of America 58th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 34th Annual Meeting, Microscopical Society of Canada/Societe de Microscopie de Canada 27th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania August 13-17, 2000 , August 2000 , pp. 1060 - 1061
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

1. Parkin, S. S. P., Annu. Rev. Mat. Sci. 25(1995)357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. Portier, X. and Petford-Long, A.K., J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 32, R89 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Miller, M. K. et al., Atom Probe Field Ion Microscopy (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996).Google Scholar

4. Larson, D. J. et al., J. Appl. Phys. 87(8) (2000), in press, Martens, R. L. et al., Micro, and Microanal, this volume.Google Scholar

5. The authors would like to thank Prof. B. Cantor for the provision of laboratory space and Viellieux, R. J. and Wissman, B. D. for their contributions to this research. This research was sponsored by The Royal Society (AKPL) and the U.S. National Science Foundations under grant number 9703932 (RLM and TFK).Google Scholar