Effect of coherent to incoherent structural transition on magnetic anisotropy in Co/Pt multilayers

The crystallographic structure and magnetic anisotropy have been investigated in Co/Pt multilayers deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering on two different buffer layers, Ta and Pt. Detail theoretical and experimental investigations reveal the presence of three effects: magneto-elastic, int...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2012-07, Vol.112 (2)
Main Authors: Chowdhury, P., Kulkarni, P. D., Krishnan, M., Barshilia, Harish C., Sagdeo, A., Rai, S. K., Lodha, G. S., Sridhara Rao, D. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropy
Coherence
Crystal structure
Deposition
Magnetic anisotropy
Multilayers
Platinum
Tantalum
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Summary:The crystallographic structure and magnetic anisotropy have been investigated in Co/Pt multilayers deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering on two different buffer layers, Ta and Pt. Detail theoretical and experimental investigations reveal the presence of three effects: magneto-elastic, interface and shape anisotropies, and their competition results in three distinct regions based on the Co layer thickness (tCo). In the region I, with tCo< 6 Å, the coherent lattice strain modifies the volume anisotropy through magneto-elastic contribution and it leads to overall positive volume anisotropy energy. With further increase in tCo, lattice mismatch initiates and this results in a decrease in magneto-elastic effect and it enhances the interface anisotropy. The presence of both diminished magneto-elastic effect and enhanced interface anisotropy results in an intermediate region (region II) with negative volume anisotropy energy which is relatively wider (6 Å 12 Å, the magneto-elastic effect emerges as an interface phenomena and the shape anisotropy becomes dominant.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.4739284