Origins of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ni/Pd multilayer films

Room-temperature perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) was observed in Ni /Pd multilayer films having 5.1-11 Angstrom Ni and constant 5.7 Angstrom Pd sublayer thicknesses, prepared by dc magnetron sputtering at 7 mTorr Ar sp uttering pressure. The magnetoelastic anisotropy determined from delicate i n situ stress and ex situ magnetostriction coefficient measurements was fou nd to contribute positively to the observed PMA in those samples and its ma gnitude was nearly comparable to the surface anisotropy. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)46208-5].