Abstract

The results on investigation of structural and magnetic characteristics of Co/Cu/Co thin-film systems obtained by magnetron sputtering on glass substrates are presented. The thickness of Co layers in all samples is equal to 5 nm and the Cu layer is varied from 0.5 to 4 nm. It is found that the saturation field, HS, oscillates in magnitude with increasing Cu layer thickness with the period of the order of 1 nm. The maximum values of HS are observed for tCu = 1.4, 2.2 and 3.2 nm. The hysteresis loops measured for these samples in a magnetic field applied along the easy magnetization axis have a two-step form, and for other tCu – rectangular one. The obtained results are explained by the presence of exchange coupling between the ferromagnetic layers through a Co spacer and its oscillating behavior with changing tCu.

Highlights

  • Magnetic thin films attracted the attention of researchers since the mid of XX century

  • Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) was discovered for threelayer and multilayer thin-film systems consisting of alternating ferromagnetic (FM) and nonmagnetic layers of submicron thicknesses

  • It was found that the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) value depends on the mutual orientation of the magnetization in the FM layers and may reach several tens of percent in multilayer systems [1]

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Summary

Introduction

Magnetic thin films attracted the attention of researchers since the mid of XX century. The transport and magnetic properties of the samples are changed. Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) was discovered for threelayer and multilayer thin-film systems consisting of alternating ferromagnetic (FM) and nonmagnetic (without magnetic ordering, NM) layers of submicron thicknesses. The oscillatory behavior of the exchange interaction between FM layers with a variation of NM thickness was discovered [2,3,4]. Due to their unique properties, multilayer thin-film systems are widely used in devices of micro- and nanoelectronics, in particular, in various sensors, including sensors of magnetic fields [5]. Thinfilm systems are used to record and store information in the devices with high density and speed of recording [6]

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