Thin-film powder diffraction and in situ grazing incidence X-ray scattering
have been used to determine the structural changes that occur during annea
ling of permalloy/copper multilayers. We show that the enhanced stability i
n the magneto transport properties of multilayers doped with cobalt at the
interfaces correlates with reduced interdiffusion. The development of a lon
g correlation length conformal roughness during annealing is observed. (C)
2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.