GIANT MAGNETORESISTANCE AND MICROSTRUCTURE IN HIGHLY ORIENTED CO CU MULTILAYERS SPUTTER-DEPOSITED ON (111)SILICON/

This paper reports the results of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and ma gnetic hysteresis measurements on sputter-deposited Co/Cu multilayers with random or highly oriented (111) textures. These results are corre lated with microstructural information obtained by high-resolution tra nsmission electron microscopy and by X-ray diffraction. The multilayer s were designed to be at the second maximum of the oscillatory exchang e coupling and were deposited onto ion beam etched (111) Si substrates . We find that randomly oriented multilayers exhibit clear antiferroma gnetic coupling and similar to 20% GMR, whereas (111)-oriented multila yers are ferromagnetically coupled and show near-zero GMR.