DOE OSTI2013
The effects of Co layer thickness and annealing temperature on the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) properties of inverted [Pt (0.2 nm)/Co (t{sub Co})]{sub 6} multilayers (where t{sub Co} indicates the thickness of the Co layer) have been investigated. The cross-sectional microstructure, as observed from the high-resolution transmission electron microscope images, shows a clear layered structure with atomically flat interfaces both in the as-deposited state as well as after annealing, indicating the interface effects for PMA. The effective PMA energy density (K{sub eff}) increases significantly with an increase in t{sub Co} from 0.2 to 0.28 nm and then becomes almost saturated with further increases in t{sub Co}, followed by a slight reduction at the highest Co thickness, t{sub Co} = 0.6 nm. In order to explain the t{sub Co} dependence on K{sub eff}, the intrinsic PMA energy density (K{sub i}) is calculated by additionally measuring a similar set of results for the saturation magnetization. The K{sub i} value increases nearly linearly with the increase in t{sub Co} from 0.2 to 0.5 nm, followed by saturation at a higher t{sub Co} value of 0.6 nm. Owing to a close relationship between K{sub i} and the quality of the interfaces, these results indicate a similar t{sub Co} dependence on the quality of the interfaces. This is further supported from the magnetic measurements of the samples annealed at the highest temperature of 500 °C, where a second phase is formed, which show a similar t{sub Co} dependence on the amount of the second phase. The K{sub i} value is nearly independent of the annealing temperature at t{sub Co} ≤ 0.4 nm, above which a substantial reduction is observed, when the annealing temperature exceeds 500 °C.