Change of magnetoresistance characteristic and crystal structure by ion bombardment to interfaces in [Ni81Fe19/Cu] multilayers (abstract)

Abstract

Many practical applications using giant magnetoresistance (GMR) have been developed, such as read-out heads and spin valve devices; however, the origin of GMR is not still fully understood. The GMR effect seems to be originated from the spin scattering mechanism whether at the interfaces or at the layer bodies. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the spin scattering behaviors at the interfaces in GMR multilayers. It is regarded that the mixing and the diffusion of atoms at the interfaces in multilayers can be well promoted by ion bombardment to the interfaces at proper energy in dual ion beam sputtering (DIBS) method. In this study, change of magnetoresistance (MR) and crystallographic characteristics induced by interfacial mixing of atoms were investigated. Specimen films were deposited by DIBS. Additional ion bombardment to the growing surfaces arranges the mixing effect at the interfaces between Ni-Fe and Cu layers. Acceleration voltage of sputtering ion source Vmg were set at 500 V and that of bombarding ion source Vsg was varied in the range of 0–300 V. Si wafers were used as substrates. Ni–Fe/Cu multilayers with GMR were deposited on 50 Å thick Fe buffer layers. Only two monolayers at the interfaces in Ni–Fe/Cu multilayers were exposed to ion bombardment to cause the local interfacial mixing. X-ray diffraction diagrams, showed that (111) orientations of Ni–Fe and Cu crystallites are obtained at Vsg below 200 V and that, on the contrary, (100) orientation became dominant in the films deposited at Vsg above 200 V. There is no apparent differences in MR ratio with increase of Vsg. However, the field sensitivity and saturation field properties were drastically degraded at Vsg above 200 V, while the crystal structure seemed to be changed. These results indicate that spin scattering were mainly occurred at the layer bodies in Ni–Fe/Cu multilayers. These results implied that the interfacial mixing is not so effective for changing MR ratio of Ni–Fe/Cu multilayers. However, the behavior of magnetization vectors are much influenced by change of local structure at the interfaces. These results seem to confirm the proposed theory; i.e., the spin scattering in layer bodies is the dominant mechanism on GMR in Ni–Fe/Cu multilayers.