Skj. Lenczowski et al., GIANT MAGNETORESISTANCE OF ELECTRODEPOSITED CO CU MULTILAYERS/, Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials, 148(3), 1995, pp. 455-465
We report on the structural and electrical characterization of electro
deposited Co/Cu multilayers grown in a single electrolyte based on CoS
O4 and CuSO4. A high degree of crystallographic orientation and superl
attice coherence is found in the growth on (100)- and (111)-oriented s
ubstrates. The magnetoresistance (MR), measured in the current-in-plan
e configuration at room temperature, is dominated by the giant MR effe
ct for Cu-layer thicknesses d(Cu) greater than or similar to 3 nm and
by the anisotropic MR effect for d(Cu) less than or similar to 2.5 nm.
A maximum of 14% is measured for d(Cu) approximate to 4 nm. No eviden
ce for antiferromagnetic coupling is found. Instead, the giant MR grad
ually diminishes with decreasing d(Cu) < 4 nm which is attributed to f
erromagnetic coupling due to magnetic pinholes. The influence of the C
u2+-ion concentration, the addition of levelling agents, and the Go-an
d Cu-layer thicknesses on the structure and magnetoresistance is syste
matically investigated. Especially the use of levelling agents has a c
atastrophic effect on the structural quality of the multilayers and on
the magnitude of the MR.