Caf. Vaz et al., Effect of strain on the magnetic anisotropy of Co in Cu/Co/Ni/Cu/Si(001) epitaxial structures, IEEE MAGNET, 35(5), 1999, pp. 3850-3852
The effect of strain on the magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Co/Ni/Cu/Si(00
1) structures was studied using polar magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) magn
etometry and reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), Ca has th
e effect of reducing the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Ni for the wh
ole range of Ni thicknesses (30 Angstrom to 120 Angstrom) while a variation
of the perpendicular Co anisotropy constants with the Ni thickness is obse
rved. The first and second order magnetoelastic coupling coefficients of Co
were obtained from this strain-related variation,and are found to have opp
osite signs. We show that by varying the Ni thickness it is possible to sen
sitively central the magnetic anisotropy of the Co layer.