Correlation of structural, chemical, and magnetic properties in annealed Ti∕Ni multilayers

Abstract

Ti ∕ Ni multilayer samples have been synthesized on float glass substrates using an electron-beam evaporation technique under ultrahigh vacuum conditions at room temperature. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD) and grazing incidence x-ray reflectivity (GIXRR) techniques were used, respectively, to study structural modifications and to determine corresponding changes in microstructural parameters, such as individual layer thickness, interface roughness, and electron density due to annealing treatment. In addition to this, the chemical nature of the surface and interfaces of these samples were also studied using a depth profile x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) technique. The GIXRD measurement show clear amorphization of the as-deposited multilayer sample annealed in the temperature range of 300–400 °C. The corresponding GIXRR measurement indicates the formation of a sufficiently thick layer of Ti–Ni at interfaces converting the Ti∕Ni bilayer into a Ti∕Ti–Ni∕Ni trilayer multilayer structure. The precipitation of the Ti–Ni alloy phase at the interface in the case of samples annealed at 400 °C has been confirmed by XPS measurements. The magnetization behavior investigated using the magneto-optical Kerr effect technique clearly shows well the saturation magnetization behavior for all samples annealed up to 300 °C, while the sample annealed at 400 °C does not show saturation magnetization. The corresponding coercivity value (Hc) is also found to be changed drastically from 15.5 to 0.6 Oe. This observed magnetization behavior is discussed and correlated with structural and chemical changes in the multilayer structure.