Interfacial random roughness effects on the magnetoresistance of Co–Cu metallic superlattices

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to better understand the interfacial random geometric roughness contribution regarding the magnetoresistance (MR) effect in structure consisting “Ferromagnetic (FM) metal/Non-magnetic (NM) metal” metallic multilayer (ML) film by treating the interfaces in two different approaches. The calculation of the film in-plane conductivity is realised for two configurations: the FM layers aligned (i) parallel and (ii) antiparallel to each other. The results reveal in the first approach that the MR behaviour is strongly influenced by interfaces state by varying their chemical composition and also their magnitude of its geometric roughness. The scattering effects across non-rough interfaces on the magnetoresistive signal amplitude are observed in the second approach. The results show that a [Substrate//Co(1.1 nm)/Cu(1.1 nm)//Co(1.1 nm)//Capping layer] ML with smooth interfaces exhibit a giant magnetoresistive ratio of 97.5 % for the largest asymmetric spin-dependent scattering.