Effect of heat treatment on the magnetic compensation state of amorphous Gd-Co and layered Gd/Co films

The influence of heat treatment on the magnetic properties of amorphous Gd2 2Co78 and multilayered {Gd(75 Angstrom)/Cu(L-Cu)/Co(30 Angstrom)/Cu(Lu-Cu)} (20) films close to the magnetic compensation state has been investigated. It is found that annealing of amorphous films at temperatures up to 250 deg rees C results in the disappearance of perpendicular anisotropy and magneti c compensation. The heat treatment of the multilayered films leads to an in crease of the compensation temperature, which is less pronounced in the sam ples with Cu layers. These changes are attributed to initial stages of phas e transformations in amorphous films and to interlayer diffusion in the mul tilayered films. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.