Electrodeposition of GMR Ni/Cu Multilayers in a Recirculating Electrochemical Flow Reactor

Abstract

The recirculating electrochemical flow reactor developed at UCLA has been employed to fabricate nanostructured GMR multilayers. For comparison, Ni/Cu multilayers have been electrodeposited from a single bath, from dual baths and from the recirculating electrochemical flow reactor. For a magnetic field of 1.5 kOe, higher GMR (Max. -5%) Ni/Cu multilayers with low electrical resistivity (< <TEX>$10\;{\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$</TEX>) were achieved by the electrochemical flow reactor system than by the dual bath (Max. GMR = -4.2% and < <TEX>$20\;{\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$</TEX>) or the single bath (Max. GMR = -2.1% and < <TEX>$90\;{\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$</TEX>) techniques. Higher GMR effects have been obtained by producing smoother, contiguous layers at lower current densities and by the elimination of oxide film formation by conducting deposition under an inert gas environment. Our preliminary GMR measurements of Ni/Cu multilayers from the electrochemical flow reactor obtained at low magnetic field of 0.15 T, which may approach or exceed the highest reported results (-7% GMR) at magnetic fields > 5 kOe.