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The Effect of Impurity Doping of The Magnetic Layer on the Magnetoresistance and Saturation Field of FeCr/Cr and CoCu/Cu Multilayers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

B.J. Daniels
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2205
B.M. Clemens
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2205
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Abstract

The effect of doping the magnetic layer on the magnetoresistance and saturation field of epitaxial, sputter-deposited FeCr/Cr(001) and CoCu/Cu(001) multilayers was examined. FeCr/Cr films with a composition of [14 Å Fe1−xCrx(001)/8 Å Cr(001)]50 where x was varied from 0 to 0.5 and CoCu/Cu films with a composition of [8 Å Co1−xCux(001)/21 Å Cu(001)]40 where x was varied from 0 to 0.2 were deposited onto single crystal MgO(001). The bilayer period and epitaxial orientation of these films were determined by x-ray diffraction. In the FeCr/Cr system the room temperature magnetoresistance was constant at approximately 31% for x≤0.2 and decreased for larger Cr concentrations. The spin-dependent scattering (Δp) is increased over the x=0 value for x=0.1 and x=0.2. The magnetic field required to saturate these multilayers decreases linearly with increasing Cr concentration. The net result is that the sensitivity of these films is increased by Cr doping of the Fe layer. In the CoCu/Cu system the room temperature magnetoresistance, saturation field, and saturation magnetization decrease with the addition of Cu to the Co layer. In contrast to the FeCr/Cr system Δp does not increase with doping of the ferromagnetic layer. However, as in the FeCr/Cr films the sensitivity of these multilayers is increased with respect to that of the x=0 CoCu/Cu multilayer.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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